foreign direct investment - barcelona...6 executive summary foreign direct investment in catalonia...

FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT IN CATALONIA AND BARCELONAFull report. February - April 2017

Content

Executive SummaryMethodology and Objectives FDI Global TrendsKey Findings and ConclusionsChallenges and Opportunities for Catalonia and Barcelona

MethodologyQuantitative methodologyQualitative methodology

Evolution of FDI – Quantitative Analysis FDI Global Trends FDI in the worldFDI in the European Union

FDI in CataloniaGeneral trends of FDI in Catalonia regarding SpainForeign companies in Catalonia

Analysis of FDI Projects in Catalonia and BarcelonaSource of originDestination by economic sectorDestination by business activity

Cross-analysis of FDI Projects in BarcelonaEconomic sectors by country of origin Business activities by country of origin Business activities by economic sector

Perception of Catalonia and Barcelona – Qualitative Analysis Why do international companies decide to invest abroad? How do international companies decide where to invest? What is international companies’ perception of Catalonia and Barcelona as business locations? Which are the most positively perceived factors?Which are Barcelona & Catalonia’s less positively perceived factors?

Perception of Potential InvestorsLikeliness to Invest

Conclusions

AppendixTable of FiguresAcknowledgments

1.1.11.21.31.4

2.2.1.12.1.2

3.3.1

3.1.13.1.2

3.23.2.13.2.2

3.33.3.13.3.23.3.3

3.43.4.13.4.23.4.3

4.4.14.2

4.3

4.3.14.3.2

4.44.5

5.

6.6.16.2

55557

999

11111113

151518

19202126

29293132

343435

37

4041

4244

45

484850

6.36.46.56.66.7

6.86.8.16.8.2

6.96.9.16.9.2

SourcesReferencesGlossary of termsMethodological notesEquivalences of Factors and Elements of Attraction

Survey dataSurveySurvey respondents

Annex: Additional data Sectors in Catalonia (2003-2009)Business activities in Catalonia (2003-2009)

5151515253

545459

596060

Foreign Direct Investment in Catalonia and Barcelona Executive summary5

1. Executive Summary

1.1 Methodology and Objectives

The objectives of this study are to analyse the recent evolution of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Catalonia and Barcelona1 and to understand the perception that foreign companies have of Catalonia and Barcelona as investment locations.

In order to prepare this study, both quantitative and qualitative techniques were used. For the quantitative analysis, several investment statistical sources and databases were examined, mainly UNCTAD, managed by the UN; Datainvex, by the Spanish Ministry of Economy; and fDi Markets, by the Financial Times. As for the qualitative analysis, different techniques were used: creation and gath-ering of a panel of 11 experts in foreign investment, followed by 18 in-depth interviews2 and a survey on 149 executives from foreign companies. The most innovative aspect of this study is the fact that the perceptions of companies that have never invested in the region could be analysed through the in-depth interviews and the survey.

1.2FDI Global Trends

In open, innovative, and inter-connected territories, FDI plays a key role as an enabler of economic growth and innovation transfer. The fact that almost 14 million jobs were created around the world through FDI Projects3 during the 2010-2016 period shows that investment can also become a driver for job creation and talent attraction. In this sense, FDI is more important than ever before and regions are in an intense competition to attract invest-ment flows and projects to their territories. Catalonia and Barcelona need to keep making efforts to maintain the territory as a preeminent investment destination. The study shows that companies mostly invest abroad to access new markets, since 65% of all respondents chose this option. The second and

third reasons to invest abroad fall far behind access to new markets, but show two specific trends: com-panies investing abroad to innovate in processes or products/services and proximity to products or services demanded by their local markets. It is also important to understand the factors that companies analyse when deciding on an investment location. According to this study, the most impor-tant factor for executives when deciding where to invest is the market: its size, level of openness and its growth potential. Institutional factors and costs hold second and third positions respectively. In that sense, costs stands out as a fairly important issue to respondents. However, established companies in Catalonia not only fail to invest in the region because of its costs but because of other more value-added elements. Besides the top three influ-encing factors when deciding on a location in which to invest, an additional reason seems very relevant for most companies interviewed: human capital. In fact, certain executives pointed out the increasing rele-vance of talent availability as a key investment factor.

1.3 Key Findings and Conclusions

Catalonia and Barcelona are leading European regions when it comes to attraction of foreign direct investment, reaching the highest level of FDI inflows during the analysed period. FDI inflows hit a record high for two consecutive years, with €4,936 million in 2015, and €5,052 million in 2016.

Additionally, Catalonia was the first destination for FDI Projects in Spain, accounting for 35% of all

1 According to fDi Markets, references to “Barcelona” or “Barcelona Area” refers to its administrative region, equivalent to the third level of the Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics (NUTS 3) of the European Union. In the case of Catalonia, it refers to the province of Barcelona

2 The interviews, survey and sessions with the expert panel were conducted between February and April 2017

3 fDi Markets database


projects attracted between 2010 and 2016. These projects helped to reduce unemployment by creat-ing over 50,000 jobs and boosted Catalonia’s econ-omy by generating $20 billion of capital investment.

Catalonia and Barcelona consolidated their attractiveness to the largest economies in the world as well as to emerging countries in foreign investment. The Top 5 investor countries in Catalonia and Barcelona consist of three European countries (Germany, France and the UK) and the US and Japan. Additionally, 15.9% of all projects were from Asian companies, which are the fastest-growing contributors to the world’s FDI. Catalonia was the main Spanish destination (with a 40% share) for FDI Projects coming from China, Japan and India.

Barcelona is a top-five European city in terms of foreign investment attractiveness. After London and Paris, Barcelona had a leading position alongside Dusseldorf and Dublin during the analysed period (2010-2016). 8.6% of all FDI Projects in the EU-28 were in London, 4.2% in Ile-de-France (Paris region), 2.4% in Dusseldorf, 2.3% in Dublin, and 2.2% in Barcelona.

Overall, investors perceive Catalonia and Barcelona as a very attractive place to invest. The region is rated globally at 3.7, on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being “very attractive to invest”. Asian companies are those that best rated the region, with 3.73 points, followed by European and American companies, with 3.70 and 3.65 points respectively.

In terms of the location of survey respondents, Asian and European companies have the best perception of Catalonia and Barcelona followed by the American ones, although the difference between the grading is not significant. Asian companies’ good perception is especially relevant, since the Asian market is an important FDI contributor. The number of projects coming from Asian companies has been increasing steadily since 2010, representing 23% of all FDI Projects in 2016.

The importance of investors’ perception of a region was also stressed. Since Catalonia and Barcelona are competing as advanced regions within Europe, there are no major differences in key factors such

as costs or macro-economic or institutional factors. Therefore, the decision to invest is greatly influenced by other factors such as the attractiveness of being an important hub or cluster for a sector, or to be perceived as an innovative destination for certain economic sectors and value chain activities. Highly innovative sectors find Catalonia and Barcelona a very attractive location for their investments. From a comparative point of view, established companies give greater importance to innovation as a factor of decision when deciding to invest abroad. The reason for this is that Catalonia and Barcelona are more attractive to innovative companies. In fact, Barcelona had a leading position within the EU in terms of FDI Projects in Design and Development and Testing and R&D.

Catalonia is set to become a strategic industri-al pole in the process of reindustrialisation of advanced economies. In fact, the Industry sectors led FDI attraction in Catalonia during the period 2010-2016, representing 33.4% of the total flows with a €9,098 million investment. Among the most relevant industrial sectors, the Food Products and Bever-ages, Pharmaceutical Products, Vehicles and Chemical sectors stood out.

Companies that internationalise their manufacturing activities are those that have a better perception of Catalonia and Barcelona. This means that the region is well-positioned in terms of attracting projects with a positive impact in terms of long-term investments and job creation.

Barcelona leads the attraction of sectors and activities with a high impact in terms of jobs and long-term investments. When comparing Barcelona’s five most important sectors in terms of FDI Projects received, it had a leading position (fifth or above in the ranking) in the Life Sciences and Transportation sectors, as the second and the fourth EU region with the most FDI Projects received between 2010 and 2016 respectively.

Barcelona tops the attraction tables in several sec-tors in Europe even though these sectors are not the most important in the region. Barcelona led the EU ranking in terms of FDI Projects received for the Warehousing & Storage sector. Likewise, Barcelona


ranked second for the Computer and Office Equip-ment and Textiles sectors. The other two sectors where Barcelona was within the Top 5 EU regions were the Chemicals and Automotive Components sectors.

In addition to the analysis of sectors, it is also relevant to analyse which activities companies’ investments are destined for in the region. In this sense, when analysing the most important business activities in Barcelona by economic sector, it is notable that Life Sciences, Chemicals and Automotive Components mostly attracted investment for Manufacturing activities.

Catalonia and Barcelona’s talent and education ecosystem is a strategic element for reinforcing the region’s position in the global competition for talent. Catalonia and Barcelona are capable of providing international companies with the talent they seek by offering education and training programmes built around their needs. Currently, the fourth best-perceived factor in the region is the quality of its education system. Human capital offered by the region is perceived very highly by international companies.

Catalonia and Barcelona are key regional players for the Southern European and Mediterranean market. The strong infrastructures network, together with its geo-economic location can be used by established companies to reach out to potential European and Mediterranean Basin markets, as well as to establish corporate services near to their target markets. In addition to established companies, half of the companies that are considering investing in Southern Europe have considered investing in Catalonia or Barcelona.

1.4

Challenges and Opportunities for Catalonia and Barcelona

Catalonia and Barcelona have become a great loca-tion to invest. Nevertheless, there are some aspects in which the region can still improve its positioning. Non-established companies perceive Catalonia and Barcelona as a region with leading scientific facilities, an innovative ecosystem, a significant start-up presence, local talent availability and international talent attraction capacity, head-to-business mind-set and a great quality of life, and their average rating for the region is 4 points out of 5. Therefore, Catalonia and Barcelona have great potential to attract new investments. The challenge is to attract investors that perceive the region as a pole of attraction for Southern Europe in which to establish their future projects.

Sectors such as Life Sciences, Transportation or Chemicals had a leading position in investment attraction in the region in the period 2010-2016. Nevertheless, Catalonia and Barcelona could still improve their regional positioning within the European Union in the attraction of sectors such as Software and ICT, Business Services, and Financial Services. Even though these sectors have a significant number of projects, the region is far behind London, the lead-ing region, followed by Paris and Dublin. Strategic sectors find top-class locations for their decision-making centres in Catalonia and Barcelona. Sectors such as Life Sciences, Business Services and Textiles are investing in the region for Headquarters activities. The region could improve its attractiveness for Headquarters activities in other sectors in which it has a leading position, for exam-ple in Chemicals or Automotive Components, where decision-making centres are not found in any of the investor companies’ major activities.

Innovation, business performance and net-working are key elements for attracting foreign investment in advanced economies. Catalonia and Barcelona’s good positioning in these aspects should compensate the factors where Catalonia and Barcelona are less positively perceived, such as those related to taxation, and costs (rental costs and


energy costs). Although costs are the least positively perceived factors, international investors investing in Catalonia and Barcelona do not consider these factors very relevant. As such, Catalonia has to focus on fostering and consolidating itself as an innovation pole, since innovation is an important factor for companies not yet investing in the region. The results of the study prove that Catalonia and Barcelona are among the most competitive regions in Europe in terms of FDI attraction. Nevertheless, the study also proves that Catalonia and Barcelona can still increase FDI inflows and projects by fostering their strengths. It is a region capable of attracting industrial projects and highly innovative investments, of becoming a strategic destination for companies seeking international talent, and a great stronghold for reaching a bigger and growing market due to its proximity to European and Mediterranean Basin markets.

Foreign Direct Investment in Catalonia and Barcelona Methodology9

2. Methodology

The aim of the present study was two-fold: firstly, the objective was to analyse the trends and evolution of Foreign Direct Investment in Catalonia and Barcelona. Secondly, it was to be aware of the perception that foreign companies have of Catalonia and Barcelona as business locations in which to invest.

The first objective was approached by analysing quan-titative data, whereas qualitative analysis techniques were used to gather foreign companies’ perception. The sections below provide further information on the quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Moreover, in order to fine-tune the methodology to be used, a panel of investment experts was created to validate the proposed methodological approach.

2.1.1Quantitative methodology

The trends and evolution of FDI in Catalonia and Barcelona were analysed through quantitative data available in different databases. The main sources of information for the quantitative analysis were: UNCTAD (United Nations), for world FDI Flows; DataInvex-Mineco (Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness), for

2.1.2Qualitative methodology

The main purpose of the qualitative analysis was to identify the main factors that drive foreign investment decisions and analyse the level of attractiveness of Catalonia and Barcelona to foreign investors.

To develop the qualitative analysis, the following three techniques were used: an expert panel, in-depth interviews and an online survey. These three tech-niques were used in chronological order so each activity helped to prepare the following one, as is shown in Figure 1. The expert panel was gathered and consulted both at the beginning of this study, to

Spanish and Catalan FDI Flows; and fDi Markets database, for FDI Projects in Europe, Spain, Catalonia and the administrative region of Barcelona. In this case, Barcelona refers to the province which is the second-level political and administrative division in Spain. Other sources used in the study can be found in section 6.3 Sources.

The figures and tables displayed in the quantitative analysis have been prepared using data from the abovementioned sources consulted throughout the months of March and April 2017.

Fig

ure

1 -

Met

hodo

logy

for t

he q

ualit

ativ

e an

alys

is ExPErT PANEL

Sets the questions for the interviews

and survey

· Reasons to invest· Perceptions about Catalonia and Barcelona

INFOrMATION COLLECTED

Sets the final content of the

survey

Validates the analysis of

collected data

ExPErT PANELSUrVEy

IN-DEPTHINTErVIEWS

· Trends of future investments in Barcelona and Catalonia by multinational companies

Foreign Direct Investment in Catalonia and Barcelona Methodology10

validate its hypothesis, and at the end to validate the final analysis, conclusions and recommendations. The first session was set to validate the methodological approach, whereas the second gathering was sched-uled with the purpose of validating the preliminary results and recommendations.

Firstly, it was important to understand what compa-nies are taking into account when deciding on where to place their investments. This means analysing the key factors that can influence the decision to invest or not in any given destination. In order to discuss these factors, a first session with a panel of experts took place at the beginning of the study. Each expert was given a predefined list of possible relevant factors that may influence the decision of where to invest. The experts analysed the predefined factors and proposed others that could be of relevance. Moreover, they dis-cussed how these factors may affect the companies’ investment decisions.

Based on the factors that were validated during the session, the panel evaluated the strong and weak points of Catalonia and Barcelona in terms of attract-ing foreign investment. Overall, this first session with the expert panel allowed the guidelines and questions for the in-depth interviews to be established, putting focus on the crucial aspects identified by the experts.

As a second research technique, a total of 18 in-depth interviews with executives with invest-ment decision-making power were conducted.4 The interviews allowed crucial information to be retrieved about the perceptions of established and non-established companies in Catalonia and Barcelona. Additionally, the interviewers helped to narrow down the investment decision factors that had been previously discussed in the expert panel session.

Following the interviews, an online survey was sent to companies to fully understand how Catalonia and Barcelona are perceived by foreign companies. The survey was completed by 149 respondents, 46 of which were executives from companies that are already investing in Catalonia and Barcelona, whereas 103 respondents were from companies not established in Catalonia. This is the first time since the

first edition of the study that the perception of compa-nies not established in Catalonia has been included, enriching the results obtained.

Finally, a second session with the expert panel was held to validate the results. Again, this is the first edition of this study in which an expert panel is used, both at the beginning and at the end of this study, to validate the research and the results obtained, as well as to jointly define recommendations in a collective intelligence basis.

4 For further information see 6.2 Acknowledgments

Foreign Direct Investment in Catalonia and Barcelona Evolution of FDI - Quantitative Analysis11

3. Evolution of FDI – Quantitative Analysis3.1FDI Global Trends5

3.1.1 FDI in the world

This section provides an overview of the latest world trends on Foreign Direct Investment. Global FDI Flows are published in the World Investment Report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Develop-

Fig

ure

2 -

Glo

bal F

DI F

low

s (in

billi

on d

olla

rs) a

nd

grow

th (i

n %

), 20

10-2

015

ment (UNCTAD). At the time of writing this study, the latest data available from UNCTAD on global invest-ment flows was from 2015, thus the period analysed in this section ranges from 2010 to 2015. However, in the following sections, other databases were consult-ed where information from 2016 was available.

In terms of Global Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows, 2015 was a significant year where pre-crisis levels were reached, totalling $1,762 billion6 of invest-ment flows around the world. In addition, the level

of investment increased up to 38% with respect to 2014. As is shown in Figure 2, 2015 was a turning point, reversing the downward spiral trend that had followed the period 2010-2014. This growth was mainly driven by cross-border mergers and acquisi-tions (M&As).

Nevertheless, according to the World Investment Report 2016, Global FDI Flows are expected to de-cline by 10%-15% in 2016. The forecast for 2017 is more optimistic as FDI Flows are expected to resume growth at 5%-10%.

Global economic activity, measured by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), has been growing at a steady level since 2011 and grew at 2.5% in 2015.

UNCTAD’s forecasts expect Global GDP to grow at a similar level in 2016 with a slight upsurge in 2017, reaching a 2.8% growth rate. Despite the positive out-look for the upcoming years, the rate at which Global GDP is expected to grow is relatively low. This predic-tion may have an impact on future Global FDI Flows.

When analysing the evolution of Global FDI Flows as a percentage of Global GDP, Figure 3 shows

5 This section has been prepared with data from the World In-vestment Report 2016, published by the United Nations Conferen-ce on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on June 2016

6 One billion (bn.) refers to the American and British scale (1,000,000,000) (see Methodological note 1 in section 6.6 for more information)

$1,3

89b

n.

Glo

bal

FDI F

low

s

20100

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

40%1,800

800

1,400

400

-15 %

0 %

10 %

15 %

5 %

-5 %

-10 %

20%

30 %

35 %

25 %

Gro

wth

$1,5

67b

n.

$1,5

11b

n.

$1,4

27b

n.

$1,2

77b

n.

$1,7

62b

n.

$1,5

42b

n.

18%

13%

-4%

-6%

-11%

38%

-13%

2016 forecast

Source: UNCTAD


how, in 2015, FDI as a percentage of GDP resumed growth after a three-year decline and reached 2.5% of Global GDP, the highest figure from the previous six years. The peak in 2015, is the result of a relatively low Global GDP growth (2.5%) combined with a significant increase in Global FDI Flows.

Foreign Direct Investment can be of a different na-ture. The most common types of investment are the so-called greenfield (creation of new companies or business activities) and cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A). A greenfield investment represents

Fig

ure

3 -

Glo

bal F

DI F

low

s as

% o

f Glo

bal G

DP,

20

10-2

015

the creation of a new company or business activity in a foreign territory, with the following impact on economic activity and job creation where the invest-ment is received. On the other hand, M&A refers to a merger or the acquisition of a company by a foreign entity, without necessarily having a positive impact on jobs and economic activity at the investment’s destination country. In this respect, Figure 4 compares the volumes of these two types of investment for the period 2010-2015.

In 2010, greenfield investments accounted for 70% of total FDI Flows. Nevertheless, in 2015 their share was matched by that of M&A investments, representing 49% of total FDI Flows. On the contrary, the volume of M&A investments between 2010 and 2015 doubled from $347 to $721 billion. This sharp increase was led by the Manufacturing Sector, which saw its share in total M&A grow from 37% to 54% during this six-year period.

FDI / GDP

20100.0 %

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

2.5 %

1.0 %

1.5 %

2.0 %

0.5 %

2.2

%

2.3

%

2.2

%

2.1

%

1.7

%

2.5

%

2.0

%

2016 forecast

Source: UNCTAD

Fig

ure

4 -

Dis

trib

utio

n of

Glo

bal F

DI F

low

s fro

m

gree

nfiel

d an

d m

erge

rs &

acq

uisi

tions

in

vest

men

ts (i

n %

) and

thei

r vol

ume

(in b

illion

dol

lars

), 20

10-2

015

20100 %

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

100 %

40 %

30 %

60 %

50 %

80 %

70 %

90 %

20 %

10 %

$ 34

7 bn

.30

%

$ 55

4 bn

.39

%

$ 32

8 bn

.34

%

$ 26

2 bn

.24

%

$ 43

3 bn

.38

%

$ 72

1 bn

.49

%

$1,1

66b

n.

$1,4

19b

n.

$ 95

9b

n.

$1,0

93b

n.

$1,1

39b

n.

$1,4

87b

n.

$ 81

9 b

n.70 % $

865

bn.

61 %

$ 63

1 b

n.66 %

$ 83

1 b

n.76 %

$ 70

6 b

n.62 %

$ 76

6 b

n.51 %

Source: UNCTAD

Greenfield

M&A


3.1.2 FDI in the European Union

When looking at the Foreign Direct Investment flows in the European Union, Figure 5 shows the evolution of incoming volumes into the EU for the 2010-2015 period.

Fig

ure

5 -

EU-2

8 an

d G

loba

l FD

I Flo

ws

in b

illion

dol

lars

(u

p) a

nd g

row

th in

% (d

own)

, 201

0-20

15

Fig

ure

6 -

EU-2

8 an

d w

orld

FD

I Flo

ws’

gro

wth

in %

, 20

10-2

015

-30 %

-10%

2011

13 %

-4 %

38 %

50 %

5 %

-28 %

-11 %

2010 2012 2013 2014 20150 %

10 %

20 %

30 %

40 %

50 %

60 %

-20 %

World

EU28

20100

2011

EU28

World

2012 2013 2014 2015

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

1,400

1,600

1,800

200

$ 38

5

$ 42

6

$ 44

6

$ 31

9

$ 29

2 $ 43

9

$ 1,

389 $ 1,

567

$ 1,

511 $

1,76

2

$ 1,

427

$ 1,

277

$bn

Source: Own elaboration from UNCTAD


M&A foreign investments were the main contributors to the growth of Global FDI Flows in 2015. Accord-ing to the World Investment Report 2016, foreign investment in M&A is expected to slow down in 2016, leading to a decline in the total volume of M&A. On the other hand, the volume of greenfield investments increased by $60 billion in 2015, an 8.5% growth compared to the previous year.

FDI Flows into the European Union in 2015 totalled $439 billion, representing a 50% increase in comparison with the volumes in 2014, reversing the negative trend experienced since 2012. In 2015, the EU’s inward FDI growth rate was higher than that of the world during the same year. However, during the

overall 2010-2015 period, the EU’s FDI inward flows grew at a compound annual growth rate of 2%, which was half the global growth rate for the same period.


Fig

ure

8 -

Top

10 F

DI d

estin

atio

ns in

the

EU (i

n bi

llion

dolla

rs),

2010

-201

5

United Kingdom $ 295 bn.

$ 288 bn.

$ 243 bn.

$ 214 bn.

$ 206 bn.

$ 164 bn.

$ 163 bn.

$ 159 bn.

$ 111 bn.

$ 82 bn.

$ 75 bn.

Ireland

Luxemburg

Netherlands

Germany

Belgium

France

Spain

Italy

EU-average

Malta

Fig

ure

7 -

EU-2

8 FD

I Flo

ws

as %

of g

loba

l FD

I Fl

ows,

201

0-20

15

20100 %

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

25 %

30 %

10 %

15 %

20 %

5 %

28 %

27 % 30

%

22 %

23 % 25

%

As represented above in Figure 7, FDI Flows into the European Union as a percentage of Global FDI Flows increased in 2015, continuing the positive trend that started in 2013 and reaching up to 25% of Global GDP. Nevertheless, this percentage is still lower than those existing before 2012, where FDI Flows into the EU represented around 30% of Global FDI Flows. In addition, the EU generated 28% of Global GDP between 2010 and 2015. The top 10 destinations of FDI Flows in the EU between 2010 and 2015 are presented in Figure 8.

The top five, which includes the UK, Ireland, Luxem-bourg, the Netherlands and Germany accounted for 54% of the total FDI received in the EU. Spain held

the eighth position with 7% of the total EU’s inward FDI. In this respect, it is significant that the country with the highest share of FDI in the EU, the UK, is expected to withdraw its membership from the European Union in the coming years (i.e. “Brexit”).

It is also relevant to note that countries like Ireland, Luxembourg or the Netherlands are often selected by non-European companies as investment plat-forms to access the European market due to the existing tax incentives offered to foreign investors. Therefore, these countries are usually ranked as top FDI Flows destination countries, although the final investment (together with its impact on job creation and economic activity) may take place in another European country.




3.2FDI in Catalonia

3.2.1General trends of FDI in Catalonia regarding Spain

The current section7 focuses its analysis on productive FDI Flows into Catalonia and its com-parison with the rest of Spain. Productive FDI Flows do not take into account Foreign-Securities Holding Companies (ETVEs)8 . According to Spanish legisla-tion, these entities have a special tax treatment for dividends and capital gains transferred to the ETVEs

Fig

ure

9 -

Pro

duct

ive

FDI F

low

s in

Cat

alon

ia

(in m

illion

eur

os),

2010

-201

6

from their shareholding in non-resident companies. As a result, these cross-border capital movements do not necessarily generate any activity in the country where the ETVE is located. When looking at the evolution of productive FDI Flows in Catalonia between 2010 and 2016, Figure 9 below does not show any clear growth pattern. During this seven year period, productive FDI Flows into Catalonia reached three all-time highs since data was first recorded back in 1993. These three peak levels of FDI Flows were reached in 2010, 2015 and 2016 respectively. After four years of ups and downs, 2015 reached an all-time high, growing 62% compared to 2014. In 2016, this trend was consolidated, growing at 2.4% and reaching another

all-time high with €5,052 million received. Overall, the three best years in the series (2010, 2015 and 2016) were driven by sectors such as the Food Industry, Real Estate and Warehousing and support activities for Transportation9.

7 This section has been prepared with investment flows data extracted from the DATAINVEX database of the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness. Available at http://da-tainvex.comercio.es/

8 In Spain, Foreign-Securities Holding Companies are known as “Entidades de tenencia de valores extranjeros” (ETVE)

9 Sectors defined by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness

20100

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

5,000

6,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

1,000

€ 4,

857

€M

€ 3,

058

€ 2,

676 €

3,57

5

€ 3,

046

€ 4,

936

€ 5,

052

Source: DATAINVEx

Figure 10 below shows the volumes and the distri-bution of the FDI received in Catalonia and Spain during the period 2010-2016, differentiating between productive and non-productive investment.

FDI flows into Catalonia reached all-time highs in 2015 and 2016, consolidating its growing trend


Fig

ure

10 -

D

istr

ibut

ion

of F

DI (

ETVE

– N

O E

TVE)

in C

atal

onia

and

Spa

in(in

%) a

nd th

eir v

olum

e (in

milli

on e

uros

), 20

10-2

016

Catalonia

Spain

Fig

ure

11 -

C

atal

onia

’s p

rodu

ctiv

e FD

I as

% o

f the

tota

l in

Spa

in,

2010

-201

6

2010

2010

0 %

0 %

2011

2011

2012

2012

2013

2013

2014

2014

2015

2015

2016

2016

100 %

100 %

40 %

40 %

30 %

30 %

60 %

60 %

50 %

50 %

80 %

80 %

70 %

70 %

90 %

90 %

20 %

20 %

10 %

10 %

€5,4

09M

€24,

334

M

€3,6

56M

€35,

120

M

€ 3,

174

M€

20,0

92M

€ 3,

924

M€

23,9

26M

€ 3,

371

M€

21,1

67M

€ 5,

066

M€

25,3

42M

€5,0

82M

€33,

956

M

90 %

51 %

84 %

82 %

84 %

73 %

91 %

72 %

90 %

96 %

97 %

94 %

99 %

72 %

10 %

49 %

16 %

18 %

16 %

27 %

9 %

28 % 28 %

10 %

4 %

3 %

6 %

Source: Own elaboration from DATAINVEx

Source: Own elaboration from DATAINVEx

NO ETVE(productive)

ETVE (non-productive)

The strong growth of FDI in Spain during 2016, totalling €34 billion with a 34% increase compared to 2015, was mainly due to productive foreign invest-ment. The performance of this type of foreign direct investment in Spain was in line with that of Catalonia, growing 2% compared to 2015. When comparing the evolution of productive foreign investment in Spain and Catalonia, the results differ. Catalonia’s foreign invest was driven mainly by productive investment between 2010 and 2016, seeing its

non-productive foreign investment decline over the past three years from 10% to 1%. Spain on the other hand, between 2014 and 2016, saw its share of productive foreign investment fall from 96% to 72%. Nevertheless, when considering the period 2010-2016, productive foreign investment increased 21 percentage points.

In the following sections of this study only productive foreign investment is taken into account.

20100 %

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

10 %

15 %

20 %

25 %

30 %

35 %

40 %

5 %

39 %

11 %

18 % 21

%

15 %

21 %

21 %


In 2016, Catalonia’s productive FDI represented 21% of all productive investment into Spain. This percentage was the same as in 2015, consolidating its weight with respect to Spain. 2010 was an extraordinary year, with Catalonia representing 39% of the Spanish inward FDI. During that year, productive FDI represented only 51% of all FDI in Spain, compared to Catalonia where it represented 90%. During the period analysed, Catalonia’s share of inward productive investment in Spain was, on average, around 21%.

With regard to the sectors where FDI Flows were allocated, Figure 12 shows the distribution of FDI Flows in Catalonia by group of sectors in 2016.

The Industry sectors led the FDI attraction in Catalonia, representing 33.4% of the total flows. The most relevant industrial sectors were Food Products and Beverages (€2,944 million), Energy, Water Supply and Waste Management (€1,656 million), Pharmaceutical Products (€1,024 million), Vehicles (€615 million) and Chemical (€511 million) sectors. The next group of sectors in the ranking of FDI Flows in Catalonia in 2016 were Construction, Wholesale & Retail Trade, and Transportation & Storage with a share of 13.1%, 12.4% and 8.7% of the total respectively.

FDI flows in Catalonia were led by industry sectors

Fig

ure

12 -

FD

I Flo

ws

in C

atal

onia

by

grou

p of

sec

tors

(in m

illion

eur

os),

2010

-201

6

Source: Catalonia Trade & Investment (ACCIÓ)based on Datainvex-Mineco

0

Catalonia Industry ConstructionWholesale &retail trade

Transportation& storage

Other

4.000

2.000

6.000

8.000

10.000

12.000

14.000

16.000

18.000

20.000

22.000

24.000

26.000

28.000

€ 27.200

€M

€ 9.098

€ 3.562

€ 3.383

€ 2.359

€ 8.799


3.2.2Foreign companies in CataloniaIn 2016, there were 7,086 foreign companies established in Catalonia. In that year, there was a high concentration of foreign companies in Catalonia from only five countries. As show in Figure 13, companies from Germany, France, the Unit-ed States, Italy and the Netherlands represented over 50% of all foreign companies established in

Fig

ure

13 -

Fo

reig

n co

mpa

nies

est

ablis

hed

in

Cat

alon

ia, 2

016

Germany 977 13.8%

France 899 12.7%

United States 814 11.5%

Italy 649 9.2%

Netherlands 597 8.4%

United Kingdom 528 7.5%

Luxembourg 460 6.5%

Switzerland 344 4.9%

Japan 197 2.8%

Belgium 169 2.4%

Portugal 143 2.0%

Denmark 141 2.0%

Sweden 99 1.4%

Austria 79 1.1%

Ireland 74 1.0%

OTHEr COUNTrIES 916 12.9%

TOTAL 7,086 100%

Country of originForeign companiesestablished in Catalonia % of the total

Source: Catalonia Trade &Investment (ACCIÓ)

Catalonia. When expanding the ranking and look-ing at the top 10 countries, this concentration becomes more acute, representing about 80% of all companies established in Catalonia.

The United States (ranking third) and Japan (ranking ninth) were the only non-European countries within the Top 15 in Catalonia. As it will be shown in section 3.3.1, the top ten countries with the highest num-ber of foreign companies established in Catalonia

in 2016 also represented the main source of FDI Projects between 2010 and 2016.

As regards the distribution of foreign companies in Catalonia, 92% of these entities are concentrat-ed in the province of Barcelona. The other 8% is distributed across the provinces of Tarragona, Girona and Lleida.10

10 The first level of political and administrative division of Spain is made up of 17 Autonomous Communities and 2 autonomous cities. The second level of political and administrative division is made up of provinces. Catalonia itself is divided into four provinces: Barcelona, Tarragona, Girona and Lleida

3.2.2Foreign companies in Catalonia


3.3Analysis of FDI Projects in Catalonia and Barcelona

In this section11, the analysis of inward FDI in Catalonia and in the administrative region12 of Barcelona (hereinafter referred to as “Barcelona” or “Barcelona Area”), is based on the number of FDI Projects received rather than on the volumes of FDI Flows received. The main reason for using the project data is because FDI Flows are biased towards territories that are used as investment platforms. For instance, in the EU, Member States such as the Netherlands and Luxembourg, broadly used by non-European companies as investment platforms for cross-border capital movements in the EU, may appear overrepresented. In addition, when allocating Spain’s inward FDI Flows across the Spanish regions or Autonomous Communities, the

calculation is based on the location where the foreign company has its Spanish headquarters, disregarding where the actual operations and investment is taking place. As a result, FDI Flows are often assigned as belonging to the Community of Madrid, where most companies’ headquarters are located, even if the actual investment is taking place in another Community. Considering the above limitations of FDI Flows data, FDI Projects are to be used as the source data in this study to analyse, in detail, inward investment in Catalonia and Barcelona.

From a methodological perspective, the information on FDI Projects has been elaborated with data from the fDi Markets database. This source provides data on greenfield investments for a specific territory with detailed information on the origin of each project, its economic sector, to which business activity it refers, as well as its impact on the jobs and CapEx13 generated.

Fig

ure

14 -

N

umbe

r of F

DI P

roje

cts

in S

pain

by

Aut

onom

ous

Com

mun

ity, 2

010-

2016

Source: fDi Markets

Catalonia Communityof Madrid

Andalucia ValencianCommunity

BasqueCountry

OtherSpain0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

1,400

1,600

1,800

2,000

2,200

2,073

Projects

722

518

185 10978

461

11 This section has been prepared with data extracted from the fDi Markets database

12 The fDi Markets criteria to define “administrative region” is equivalent to the third level of the Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics (NUTS 3) of the European Union. The database defines the administrative region of Barcelona as the province of Barcelona

In this section all references to “Barcelona” or “Barcelona Area” will refer to its administrative region

13 CapEX or Capital investment makes reference to long-term expenditures of a non-recurring nature, resulting in the acquisition of permanent assets


Fig

ure

15 -

S

hare

of F

DI P

roje

cts

in C

atal

onia

by

coun

try

of o

rigin

, 201

0-20

16

United States 19.8% 35.8%

Germany 15.9% 42.6%

France 13.3% 34.7%

UK 9.1% 27.6%

Japan 7.3% 47.8%

Switzerland 5.5% 48.2%

Netherlands 4.7% 29.3%

Italy 3.2% 29.1%

China 1.9% 43.8%

Sweden 1.5% 28.2%

Canada 1.4% 41.7%

India 1.4% 45.5%

Portugal 1.2% 23.7%

Belgium 1.1% 36.4%

Israel 1.1% 47.1%

OTHEr COUNTrIES 11.6% -

TOTAL 100% -

Country of origin % of total FDI Projects inCatalonia

% of countries’ FDI Projects in Catalonia from total in Spain

Source: Own elaboration from fDi Markets data

14 Source: IDESCAT (Statistical Institute of Catalonia)

Catalonia’s GDP between 2010 and 2016 represented about 20%14 of Spain’s GDP in the same period. As for inward investment, Catalonia received 722 FDI Projects, almost 35% of the total in Spain for the same period, ranking as the top destination for these projects among all of Spain’s Autonomous Communities (AC). The second AC in the rank-ing was the Community of Madrid with 25% of all projects received. Overall, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid received about 60% of all FDI Projects in Spain between 2010 and 2016, representing a high concentration of all FDI received in Spain.

Catalonia is the first destination for foreign direct investment projects in Spain

3.3.1Source of origin

Considering the overall number of 722 FDI Projects in Catalonia between 2010 and 2016, this section analyses these investments by their origin.

In Figure 15, the US appeared as the main contribu-tor with 143 FDI Projects, representing about 20% of all FDI Projects during that period. Germany (16%), France (13%), the UK (9%) and Japan (7.3%) com-pleted the top five ranking of countries of origin for FDI Projects in Catalonia. These five countries captured around 65% of all FDI Projects, showing a significant concentration of investment from few countries. In this respect, the impact that the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union may have on FDI Projects in Catalonia in the following years remains unknown.


By looking at FDI Projects’ destination by economic sector in Catalonia, the Software & IT Services sector had a leading position between 2010 and 2016.

FDI Projects in the Software & IT Services sector had a 16% share of all FDI Projects received in Catalonia during this period, and was 3.7 percentage points higher than the previous period (2003-2009)15. Addi-tionally, the number of FDI Projects between the two periods rose from 65 to 119 (an increase of 83%). The area of Barcelona received 95% of all Software & IT Services FDI Pro-jects in Catalonia. In line with the above, in 2016 the Barcelona Tech City, a Digital Busi-ness Cluster whose goal is to position Barcelona as a Dig-ital Hub, opened its new headquarters

3.3.2Destination by economic sector

After analysing the origin of FDI Projects it is perti-nent to look at their destination by considering the economic sector where investments are made. This is to obtain information on which sectors are strategic for Catalonia and Barcelona in terms of attractive FDI Projects.

3.3.2.1Sectors in Catalonia

Fig

ure

16 -

R

anki

ng o

f FD

I Pro

ject

s by

eco

nom

ic s

ecto

r w

ith d

estin

atio

n in

Cat

alon

ia, w

ith jo

bs c

reat

ed

and

Cap

Ex ($

M),

2010

-201

6

Software & IT Services

ranking of FDI Projects Jobs created CapEx ($M)

Business Services

Life Sciences

Transportation

Financial Services

Chemicals

Consumer Products

Textiles

Other

Total

Industrial Machinery, Equipment & Tools

Source: fDi Markets

5,373 (2nd)119

78

44

42

41

38

37

31

31

261

722

491 (13th)

4,949 (3rd) 822 (7th)

2,249 (8th) 791 (8th)

3,622 (4th) 1,927 (2nd)

1,329 (15th) 1,159 (5th)

991 (8th) 188 (20th)

1,692 (11th) 876 (6th)

2,818 (6th) 420 (15th)

1,907 (10th) 153 (21st)

25,643 13,107

50,573 19,934

15 Figures for this period can be found in the Annex of this study

Furthermore, Figure 15 also shows that over 40% of all FDI Projects in Spain originating in seven different countries was captured by Catalonia. These coun-tries, and their percentage of FDI Projects in Catalonia from the total number of projects in Spain are Switzer-

land (48%), Japan (48%), Israel (47%), India (45%), China (44%), Germany (44%) and Canada (42%).

The Software & IT Services sector attracted the most FDI Projects in Catalonia, followed by the Business Services, Life Sciences and Transportation sectors

The US was the main contributor of FDI Projects in Catalonia between 2010 and 2016


to initially host over 1,000 professionals and 80 companies. Additionally, since 2006, Barcelona has been hosting the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the world’s largest gathering for mobile industry with over 108,000 visitors in the 2017 edition. These examples may show the high positioning of Barcelona within this sector.

The Business Service, Life Sciences16 and Transpor-tation sectors remained as the second, third and fourth most important sectors, increasing the number of FDI Projects received by 81%, 4.8% and 17% respectively from the period 2003-200917 . Similarly, the Chemical sector kept its place in seventh position, increasing the number of FDI Projects by 48%. In this respect, Tarragona has a very important Chemical Cluster (ChemMed Tarra-gona), which hosts over 100 chemical companies of different sizes.

The Consumer Products sector, eighth in the ranking, received 31 FDI Projects between 2010 and 2016, a 138% increase compared to the period 2003-2009. The Textile sector, historically strategic for Catalonia, gained importance between 2010 and 2016 with respect to the previous period (2003-2009), receiving 244% more FDI Projects. Although 50% of Textiles

FDI Projects were devoted to Sales & Marketing activities, it is relevant to highlight that 10 FDI Projects from this sector (30% of the total) were dedicated to Headquarters activities.

Figure 16 also indicates the jobs created and the CapEx generated by the FDI Projects received in Catalonia. The 119 FDI Projects from the Software & IT Services sector created 5,373 jobs, surpassed only by the Real Estate sector with 7,809 jobs created (i.e. not listed in the table due to its lower number of FDI Projects received). When it comes to the CapEx generated by the FDI Projects received in Catalonia, the Transportation sector generated $1,927 million, the second highest figure, although far from the $4,984 million generated by the Automotive Original Equipment Manufacturer sector, which led the CapEx ranking in Catalonia (i.e. not listed also in the above table due to its lower absolute number of FDI Projects).

16 In this study, the Life Science sector is the result of combining Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare and Medical Devices sectors from the fDi Markets database

3.3.2.2Sectors in Barcelona

The increasing urbanisation of the world population is providing cities and their influence areas a preemi-nent role in the global economy. For this reason, FDI promotion abroad is often performed through coun-tries’ leading cities and regions and their increasingly

Administrative region

Number of FDI Projects

Share in the EU

1. Greater London 2,521 8.6%

2. Ile-de-France 1,232 4.2%

3. Dusseldorf 693 2.4%

4. Dublin 679 2.3%

5. Barcelona 641 2.2%Source: Own elaboration from fDi Markets data

17 Figures for this period can be seen in the Annex of this study

Fig

ure

17 -

To

p 5

Adm

inis

trat

ive

Reg

ions

in th

e EU

-28

by n

umbe

r of F

DI P

roje

cts,

20

10-2

016

Investment projects in the Software & IT Services sector had the highest impact on job creation


powerful brands. In the case of Catalonia, Barcelona is known worldwide and is the main destination for FDI Projects. As a result, we have compared the Barcelona Area with other similar administrative regions in the European Union. To illustrate the importance of Barcelona as an FDI destination in Catalonia, it is worth mentioning that it received 641 FDI Projects between 2010 and 2016, representing about 90% of all FDI Projects received in Catalonia during that period. On the other hand, as shown in Figure

17, Barcelona was the fifth EU administrative region with more FDI Projects received between 2010 and 2016. The third and fourth destinations, Dusseldorf and Dublin respectively, only received a few more FDI Projects than Barcelona, thus making them direct competitors in this ranking. Greater London and Ile-de-France (the region of Paris) stood out among all cities within the EU. The French region ranked second with 1,232 FDI Projects, whereas Greater London, first in the ranking by far, received 2,521 FDI Projects with an 8.6 share of the total FDI Projects received by the EU.


BusinessServices

LifeSciences

Transportation Financial Services

1.London

1,002 (18.8%)London

483 (13.4%)Freiburg

50 (3.6%)London

54 (3.2%)London

358 (17.0%)

2.Paris

372 (7.0%)Paris

219 (6.1%)Barcelona44 (3.2%)

Paris42 (2.5%)

Dublin84 (4.0%)

3.Dublin

278 (5.2%)Dublin

115 (3.2%)Dublin

41 (3.0%)Dusseldorf41 (2.4%)

Paris78 (3.7%)

4.Oberbayern171 (3.2%)

Uusimaa108 (3.0%)

Paris40 (2.9%)

Barcelona37 (2.2%)

Darmstadt77 (3.7%)

5.Berlin

170 (3.2%)Berlin

104 (2.9%)London

37 (2.7%)Madrid

33 (2.0%)Madrid

69 (3.3%)

Barcelona (8th)113 (2.1%)



UE 5,337 3,602 1,374 1,683 2,107


Fig

ure

18 -

B

arce

lona

’s to

p 5

sect

ors

in te

rms

of F

DI P

roje

cts,

an

d th

eir r

elat

ive

posi

tion

in th

e EU

, 201

0-20

16

Following the comparison of Barcelona with other EU regions, when comparing Barcelona’s five most important sectors in terms of FDI Projects received, it had a leading position (fifth or above in the rank-ing) in the Life Sciences and Transportation sectors, as the second and the fourth EU region with the most FDI Projects received between 2010 and 2016

respectively. Figure 18 shows the ranking of Barcelona for these five sectors by number of FDI Projects.

The Software & IT Services, Business Services, Transportation and Financial Services sectors concentrated their FDI Projects in the EU in the Greater London region. The other sector shown in

Barcelona was the fifth EU destination of FDI Projects between 2010 and 2016


Figure 18, Life Sciences, was led by Germany with a lower concentration compared to the previous sectors, representing 3.6% of all FDI Projects received in the EU for this sector.

Nevertheless, there are other sectors in Barcelona where a lower number of FDI Projects was received but, when compared to other EU regions, Barcelona has a leading position. For this reason, Figure 19 shows five sectors where Barcelona was in the top five positions within the EU between 2010 and 2016.

Barcelona led the EU ranking in terms of FDI Projects received for the Warehousing & Storage sector with 12 FDI Projects. Similarly, Barcelona ranked second for the Business Machines & Equipment18 and Textiles sectors, receiving 16 and 29 FDI Projects respectively. The other two sectors where Barcelona was within the top five EU regions were the Chemicals (27 FDI Projects, third) and the Automotive Components sectors (20 FDI Projects, ranked fifth).

Fig

ure

19 -

5

othe

r sec

tors

whe

re B

arce

lona

has

a

lead

ing

posi

tion

in th

e EU

in te

rms

of F

DI

Pro

ject

s, 2

010-

2016

18 The Business Machines & Equipment sector, included in the top five sectors, includes Computer and Office Equipment

AutomotiveComponents

Chemicals BusinessMachines &Equipment

Textiles Warehousing &Storage

1.Lower Silesian

32 (3.2%)Düsseldorf33 (4.4%)

London18 (5.6%)

Düsseldorf35 (7.5%)

Barcelona12 (6.0%)

2.Silesian

32 (3.2%)Antwerpen33 (4.4%)

Barcelona16 (4.9%)

Barcelona29 (6.3%)

Antwerpen10 (5.0%)

3.West Midlands

29 (2.9%)Barcelona27 (3.6%)

Dublin11 (3.4%)

Paris24 (5.2%)

London6 (3.0%)

4.Stuttgart27 (2.7%)

Köln20 (2.6%)

Paris10 (3.1%)

London23 (5.0%)

Uusimaa6 (3.0%)

5.Barcelona20 (2.0%)

Zuid Holland17 (2.3%)

Düsseldorf10 (3.1%)

Madrid22 (4.8%)

Zuid Holland6 (3.0%)

UE 997 746 324 464 201



3.3.2.3FDI Impact of sectors in Barcelona

Fig

ure

20 -

Im

pact

of F

DI b

y se

ctor

in B

arce

lona

, 201

0-20

16

After comparing Barcelona’s sectors with other EU regions in terms of FDI Projects, Figure 20 analyses the impact of FDI in terms of average jobs created as well as the average CapEx generated per FDI Project. This exercise has been carried out for the top five sectors that are attracting more projects in Barcelona, as well as for the five sectors where Barcelona has a leading position in terms of investment project attraction in the EU (that is, those previously analysed in Figure 18 and Fig-ure 19 respectively). The following table includes information on these 10 selected sectors.

Overall, the average for jobs creation per FDI Project provides information regarding the labour intensity of the 10 economic

sectors selected, whereas the CapEx figures indicate how capital-intensive these sectors are. Both tables in Figure 20 show that the Warehousing & Storage and Transportation sectors had the biggest impact on both job creation and CapEx generated per FDI Project between 2010 and 2016. Regarding average jobs created, the Warehousing & Storage sector led the ranking by creating an average of 104 jobs in Barcelona per investment project, followed by the Transportation sector with an average of 92 jobs. On the other hand, and despite having a much lower impact on jobs created by project compared to the other sectors (average of 40 jobs), the Software & IT Services sector generated, in absolute terms, more jobs than any other sector shown in Figure 20 as a result of receiving the highest number of FDI Projects. As for the impact on capital expenditure, the Ware-housing & Storage sector led the ranking, doubling the amount generated by the second sector, Trans-portation. The other sectors in the ranking generated a relatively low amount of CapEx per project.

SectorsAverage jobs in Barcelona per

projects

1Warehousing &

Storage104

2 Transportation 92

3Business Machines

& Equipment82

4Automotive

Components67

5 Business Services 64

6 Life Sciences 51

7 Textiles 45

8Software & IT Services

40

9 Chemicals 38

10 Financial Services 33

SectorsAverage CapEx

in Barcelona ($M)

1Warehousing &

Storage107

2 Transportation 48

3 Financial Services 28

4 Chemicals 25

5 Life Sciences 18

6Business Machines

& Equipment17

7Automotive

Components13


9Software & IT Services

4

10 Textiles 4


Investment projects in the Warehousing & Storage and the Transportation sectors had on average the biggest impact on job creation and CapEx


3.3.3Destination by business activity

The previous analysis of FDI Projects in relation to their economic sector provides a better understand-ing of foreign investors’ needs. Nonetheless, FDI Projects are linked to a specific business activity. For this reason, this section analyses the destination of FDI Projects in Catalonia and Barcelona in terms of the companies’ value chain activities, to better under-stand which are of interest to foreign investors.

3.3.3.1Business activities in Catalonia

Similarly to the previous analysis of FDI Projects by sectors in Catalonia (3.3.2.1), this section analyses business activities in terms of FDI Projects together with the jobs and CapEx associated with them. Figure 21 shows the main business activities in Catalonia sorted by number of FDI Projects for the period 2010-2016.

Fig

ure

21 -

R

anki

ng o

f FD

I Pro

ject

s by

bus

ines

s ac

tivity

in C

atal

onia

with

jobs

cre

ated

and

C

apEx

($M

), 20

10-2

016

As shown in Figure 21, the top five business activities that attracted the most FDI Projects in Catalonia for the period 2010-2016 were Sales and Marketing, Manufactur-ing, Business Services (i.e. back-office ac-tivities), Logistics Distribution & Transportation and Design, Development & Testing. In this respect, the first four activities are the same that attracted the most projects between 2003 and 200919

but in a different order. Sales, Marketing & Support jumped from second to first position in the ranking, whereas the former leading business activity (Manu-facturing) saw a decrease in FDI Projects.

It is worth mentioning that among the business activities shown in Figure 21, there is one which considerably increased its percentage between the two analysed periods: FDI Projects on Design, Development & Testing activities increased by 268% from 19 to 70 between 2003-2009 and 2010-2016. Furthermore, FDI Projects for Headquarters activities increased by 27.1% in 2010-2016 compared to the previous seven-year period.

When looking at the jobs created and the CapEx generated for the business activities shown in Figure 21, Manufacturing and Logistics, Distribution & Trans-portation activities had the biggest impact in terms of jobs created and CapEx generated in absolute terms. Nevertheless, Design, Development & Testing activities consolidated as one of the main generators of employment, creating 6,180 jobs between 2010 and 2016.

Source: fDi Markets

ranking of FDI Projects Jobs created CapEx ($M)

4,549 (6th) 805 (6th)

8,908 (2nd) 7,653 (1st)

5,147 (5th) 1,664 (3rd)

9,551 (1st) 4,691 (2nd)

6,180 (4th) 1,285 (5th)

3,150 (7th) 587 (8th)

8,546 (3rd) 1,430 (4th)

1,226 (8th) 55 (15th)

3,316 1,764

50,573 19,934

Sales, Marketing & Support

Manufacturing

Business Services

Logistics, Distribution & Transportation

Design, Development & Testing

Construction

Customer Contact Centre

Other

Total

Headquarters

204

120

88

82

70

61

26

11

60

722

19 Figures for this period can be found in the Annex of this study

The value chain activities that attracted the most investment in Catalonia are: Sales & Marketing, Manufacturing, Business Services, Logistics and Design, Development & Testing


3.3.3.2Business activities in Barcelona

As with section 3.3.2.2, a comparison between Barcelona’s most relevant business activities in terms of FDI Projects has been performed by considering other regions in the EU. Therefore, Figure 22 shows the five main business activities in Barcelona between 2010 and 2016 in terms of FDI Projects together with the position of Barcelona in the ranking with other EU cities and regions.

In the business activities where Barcelona is not in a leading position (fifth or above in the EU ranking) there is a high concentration of FDI Projects in Greater London (Sales, Marketing & Support and Business Services). Nevertheless, in the activities where the concentration of FDI Projects is lower (i.e. 4.5% or less), Barcelona does have a leading position (though higher diversification indicates weak leadership). This

is the case for Manufacturing and Design, Devel-opment & Testing, where Barcelona holds second position. This also confirms that the latter activities are becoming very important in Barcelona when it comes to attracting foreign investment. Likewise, the number of FDI Projects in Logistics, Distribu-tion & Transpor-tation activities is higher in Barcelona than in any other EU region.

Besides the five business activities already mentioned, there are other, less relevant business activities in terms of FDI Projects where

Fig

ure

22 -

To

p 5

busi

ness

act

iviti

es in

term

s of

FD

I Pro

ject

s in

B

arce

lona

and

thei

r rel

ativ

e po

sitio

n in

the

EU, 2

010-

2016

Barcelona has a leading position within the EU. In this respect, Figure 23 shows five business activities where Barcelona ranks fifth or above in terms of FDI Projects attraction within the EU.

For Customer Contact and Technical Support centre

activities, Barcelona only received fewer FDI Projects than the first in the ranking (Dublin). With regard to Research & Development and Education & Training activities, Barcelona ranked fourth and third respective-ly (behind French and British regions), and the Catalan region ranked fourth for Construction activities.

Sales, Marketing& Support

Manufacturing BusinessServices

Logistics,Distribution

& Transportation

Design, Development

& Testing

1.London

1,081 (11.9%)Lower Silesian

92 (1.9%)London

832 (15.4%)Barcelona69 (2.9%)

Dublin80 (4.5%)

2.Paris

525 (5.8%)Barcelona85 (1.8%)

Paris281 (5.2%)

Dusseldorf60 (2.5%)

Barcelona60 (3.3%)

3.Düsseldorf365 (4.0%)

Antwerpen70 (1.5%)

Darmstadt169 (3.1%)

London58 (2.4%)

Paris59 (3.3%)

4.Uusimaa

301 (3.3%)Silesian

65 (1.3%)Dublin

161 (3.0%)Antwerpen58 (2.4%)

London56 (3.1%)

5.Freiburg

270 (3.0%)Sachsen-Anh.

65 (1.3%)Oberbayern143 (2,6%)

Paris47 (2.0%)

Antrim 49 (2.7%)



UE 9,107 4,835 5,407 2,396 1,799


Barcelona was the first EU investment destination in Logistics activities and had a leading position in Manufacturing, r&D, Customer Contact Centre, Technical Support Centre and Education & Training


Fig

ure

23 -

Fi

ve o

ther

bus

ines

s ac

tiviti

es w

here

Bar

celo

na

has

a le

adin

g po

sitio

n in

the

EU in

term

s of

FD

I P

roje

cts,

201

0-20

16

Fig

ure

24 -

Im

pact

of F

DI b

y ac

tivity

in B

arce

lona

, 20

10-2

016

3.3.3.3FDI impact of Business activities in Barcelona

In line with the impact analysis of FDI by sectors in Barcelona (3.3.2.3), this section focuses on the impact of business activities in terms of average jobs created and CapEx generated per FDI Project. This is to understand how labour- and capital-intensive FDI Projects are dependent on the value chain activities.

As seen in the table above, Construction activities are the most labour- and capital-intensive projects, as FDI Projects dedicated to these activities led the impact of job creation and were among the main genera-tors of CapEx between 2010 and 2016. This type of activity created 331 jobs per FDI Project, compared, for instance, to the 111 jobs created by projects in Customer Contact Centre activities. Furthermore, Construction activities generated $56 million of CapEx, $5 million below the amount generated by Logistics, Distribution & Transportation, second in

Construction r&D CustomerContactCentre

Education & Training

Technical Support Centre

1.London

52 (6.6%)Paris

17 (5.1%)Dublin

14 (3.6%)London

23 (9.1%)Dublin

15 (8.8%)

2.Masovian44 (5.5%)

Rhône -Alpes10 (3.0%)

Barcelona11 (2.9%)

Paris14 (5.5%)

Barcelona8 (4.7%)

3.Bucaresti37 (4.7%)

London10 (3.0%)

Tyne & Wear11 (2.9%)

Barcelona10 (4.0%)

Cork8 (4.7%)

4.Barcelona25 (3.2%)

Barcelona9 (2.7%)

Berlin9 (2.3%)

Dublin6 (3.4%)

Galway8 (4.7%)

5.Paris

24 (3.0%)Dublin

7 (2.1%)Antrim

9 (2.3%)Berlin

6 (3.4%)Bucaresti 6 (3.5%)

UE 793 334 385 253 171

Source: Own eleaboration from fDi Markets data

ActivitiesAverage jobs in Barcelona per

projects

1 Construction 331

2Logistics, Distribution

& Transportation120

3Customer Contact

Centre111

4Technical Support

Centre107

5Design, Development

& Testing86

6 Manufacturing 77


8 Education & Training 38

9Research &

Develepment25

10Sales, Marketing

& Support22

ActivitiesAverage CapEx

in Barcelona ($M)

1 Manufacturing 74

2Logistics, Distribution

& Transportation61

3 Construction 56

4 Education & Training 33

5Design, Development

& Testing19


7Research &

Develepment13

8Technical Support

Centre8

9Customer Contact

Centre5

10Sales, Marketing

& Support4



the ranking. This type of business activity also ranked second in average jobs created in Barcelona, totalling 120 jobs per project. Barcelona is benefiting from the high impact that Logistics, Distribution & Transporta-tion is generating, as the leading region in the EU in terms of FDI Projects. Similarly, Barcelona also has a leading position within the EU in FDI Projects for Manufacturing activities, as the activity that generated the highest average CapEx per project in Barcelona. Finally, one of the business activities with the highest growth in the past few years, Design, Development & Testing, ranked fifth in both average jobs created and average CapEx generated.

Conversely, those business activities where Barcelona does not hold a leading position within the EU are among those with the lowest impact per project. Business Services ranked seventh in average jobs created and sixth in average CapEx generated per project. Sales, Marketing & Support activities, last in both rankings, created only 22 jobs and generated €4 million of CapEx per project. Such low impact was compensated for by being the business activity with the highest number of FDI Projects received in Barcelona.

3.4Cross-analysis of FDI Projects in Barcelona

After analysing FDI Projects from a sectorial and activity perspective, this section aims to get a better understanding of FDI Projects by comparing their destination (sectors and activities) with their origin (the countries where FDI was originated). The scope of this analysis is the Barcelona Area for the period 2010-2016.

3.4.1Economic sectors by country of origin

This section considers the top 10 source countries in terms of FDI Projects in Barcelona for the period 2010-2016 together with the destination sectors for these projects. Figure 25 shows for each of these countries the five main sectors in which they invested in Barcelona during the analysed period.

When looking at the sectors by country of origin, FDI Projects in Barcelona from the US had a significant concentration in the Software & IT Services sector. The following destinations of US investments were in the Business Services, Consumer Products, Financial Services and Textiles sectors. Germany had most of its FDI Projects in Barcelona dedicated to the Life Sciences sector, followed by Software & IT servic-es, Business Services, Automotive Components and Electronic Components. In the German case, there is a greater diversification of projects across different sectors as opposed to the US. The other two European countries in the top five, France and the UK, included other services sectors such as Real Estate, Hotels & Tourism and Transportation in their most recurrent investment projects. On the other hand, Japan has a more diverse list of sectors when compared to the previous four countries, with a main presence of manufacturing sectors such as Business Machines & Equipment, Automotive components and Industrial Machinery. The main sectors for the Netherlands and Switzer-land are also the abovementioned for the top five countries, with the addition of the Food sector as the fifth most important for Swiss investments. The other countries in the table, Italy, China and Canada, generated a relatively low amount of FDI Projects in Barcelona.

When analysing Figure 25 from a sector perspective, it is clear how the Software & IT Services sector was the main sector for investments from the United States, France, the UK, the Netherlands and Switzerland from 2010-2016. Furthermore, there is a certain level of concentration in this sector since the US generated about 40% of all Software & IT Services projects in Barcelona. There is also a certain degree of concen-tration in the Business Services sector, as 78% of


its FDI Projects were generated in the US, Germany, France, the UK and Japan. The Financial Services sector, also relevant for Barcelona in terms of FDI Projects, captured 57% of its investment in the United States and the UK, whereas the Textiles sector, the fifth most important sector in Barcelona by number of investment projects, received 67% of them from the United States, France and Italy. Finally, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Switzerland generated 70% of all Life Sciences FDI Projects in Barcelona.

Fig

ure

25 -

To

p 5

econ

omic

sec

tors

by

coun

try

of o

rigin

of F

DI P

roje

cts

(Num

ber o

f FD

I Pro

ject

s pe

r cou

ntry

and

per

cent

age

per e

cono

mic

sec

tor),

201

0-20

16

Country of origin

TOP 1Sector

TOP 2Sector

TOP 3Sector

TOP 4Sector

TOP 5Sector

United States (127)


31%

Business Services 13%

Consumer Products

6%

Financial Services6%

Textiles 5%

Germany(96)

Life Sciences16%


8%



7%

Electronic Components

7%

France (89)


15%


Real Estate11%

Textiles 7%

Transportation6%

UK (62)


18%



Hotel & Tourism11%

Life Sciences6%

Japan (50)

Business Machines & Equipment

14%


12%


Industrial Machin-ery, Equipment,

& Tools8%

AutomotiveOEM8%

Netherlands(31)


29%



Electronic Components

10%

Chemicals6%

Switzerland(31)


39%

Industrial Machinery, Equip-

ment, & Tools16%

Life Sciences10%


Food6%

Italy(22)

Textiles 18%


Transportation9%

Consumer Products

9%


China(13)



Consumer Electronics

15%

Textiles 8%

Transportation8%

Canada(10)



20%

Food & Tobacco

10%


10%

Aerospace10%



Fig

ure

26 -

To

p 5

activ

ities

by

coun

try

of o

rigin

of F

DI P

roje

cts

(Num

ber o

f FD

I P

roje

cts

per c

ount

ry a

nd p

erce

ntag

e pe

r act

ivity

), 20

10-2

016

3.4.2Business activities by country of origin

In line with the previous analysis, this section also looks at the top 10 source countries in terms of FDI Projects in Barcelona for the period 2010-2016 together with the top five value chain activities where investment in Barcelona was made between 2010 and 2016.

As clearly seen in the above table, all countries in Figure 26 except for Japan and Germany invested in Sales, Marketing & Support activities more than in any other activity. Overall, these eight countries generated

Country of origin

TOP 1Sector

TOP 2Sector

TOP 3Sector

TOP 4Sector

TOP 5Sector

United States (127)

Sales, Marketing &Support

38%

Headquarters 13%

Business Services13%

Design, Development &

Testing10%


7%

Germany(96)

Manufacturing26%


21%



13%

Design, Development &

Testing9%

France (89)


27%


17%

Construction15%

Manufacturing 11%

Headquarters9%

UK (62)


37%


Design Development

& Testing15%

Construction 8%


5%

Japan (50)

Manufacturing 28%


20%

Design, Development

& Testing 12%

Headquarters12%

Shared Services Centre

8%

Netherlands(31)


42%


Manufacturing 13%

Design, Development

& Testing13%

Headquarters3%

Switzerland(31)


32%

Manufacturing 19%

Design, Development

& Testing16%

Headquarters 13%


10%

Italy(22)


32%


23%


Headquarters 18%

Manufacturing 9%

China(13)


46%

Headquarters15%


Design, Development

& Testing 8%


8%

Canada(10)


40%

Education &Training

40%


Design, Development

& Testing 10%

-


Sales & Marketing activities represent the first investment destination for the top 10 source countries in Barcelona except for Germany and Japan which invest more in Manufacturing activities


3.4.3Business activities by economic sector

Fig

ure

27 -

R

anki

ng o

f bus

ines

s ac

tiviti

es in

Bar

celo

na b

y ec

onom

ic s

ecto

r (N

umbe

r of F

DI P

roje

cts)

, 201

0-20

16

20 The most important sectors include the top five economic sectors in Barcelona in terms of attraction of FDI Projects as well as the five economic sectors where Barcelona has a leading position (top five) within the EU.

In order to broaden the cross-analysis of this chapter, this section compares the most important sectors20 in Barcelona, as shown in section 3.3.2.2 “Sectors in Barcelona”, with their main three business activities

SectorTOP 1

ActivityTOP 2

ActivityTOP 3

Activity

Software & IT services

(113)


63%


23%

Headquarters 5%

Business Services

(75)


Headquarters 11%

Education and Training

8%

Life Sciences (44)

Manufacturing 34%


18%

Headquarters16%

Financial Services (37)



35%

Headquarters3%

Transportation (37)


57%


38%

Headquarters 5%

Textiles(29)


55%

Headquarters 34%


3%

Chemicals(27)

Manufacturing52%


15%

Research & Development

15%

Automotive Components

(20)

Manufacturing 75%


20%


5%


(16)


25%

Shared Services Centre25%


19%

Warehousing & Storage

(12)


100%- -

81% of all Sales, Marketing & Support FDI Projects in Barcelona. These are countries with investment projects mostly in manufacturing-related sectors (as seen in the previous section in Figure 25), which invested more in Manufacturing activities, though Sales, Marketing & Support was the second business activity with more FDI Project for these countries. The United States, Germany, the UK and the Nether-lands generated 72% of all FDI Projects for Business

Activities. Similarly, the United States, Germany, the UK, Japan and the Netherlands accounted for 82% of all Design, Development & Testing FDI Projects in Barcelona. When it comes to Headquarters activities, the United States, together with France and Japan generated 61% of FDI Projects for this activity. Finally, 71% of all FDI Projects for Logistics, Distribution & Transportation activities originated in the United States, Germany and France.



in terms of FDI Projects. This is to better understand which value chain activities are attracting more in-vestment in each of the economic sectors. Figure 27 shows this relation for the period 2010-2016.

The Software & IT Services sector, the most important in Barcelona in terms of FDI Projects, attracted 63% of its FDI Projects in Sales & Marketing & Support activities. Additionally, 23% of the FDI Projects in this sector were devoted to Design, Development & Testing activities. Sectors such as Business Services, Financial Services, Transportation and Warehousing & Storage attracted most of their FDI Projects to activities related to their core business activities. Similarly, most of the projects for the Chemicals, Life Sciences and Automotive Components sectors were destined for Manufacturing activities, followed by Sales & Marketing & Support and Design, Development & Testing activities.

Furthermore, the Business Services, Life Sciences and Textiles sectors dedicated a significant percentage of their FDI Projects to Headquarters activities. To a lesser extent, Headquarters activities were also dedicated to projects for Software & IT Services, Financial Services and Transportation sectors. FDI Projects in other activities such as Research &

Development and Education & Training were carried out by the Chemicals and the Business Service sectors respectively.

FDI Projects in the Software & IT sector are mostly devoted to Sales & Marketing activities, whereas the Life Science, Chemical and Automotive Components sector mostly attract investment for Manufacturing activities

Barcelona attracts several investment projects in Headquarters activities for the Business Services, Life Sciences and Textiles sectors

Foreign Direct Investment in Catalonia and Barcelona Perception of Catalonia and Barcelona – Qualitative Analysis 34

4. Perception of Catalonia and Barcelona – Qualitative Analysis The aim of the qualitative study was to understand the behaviour of international investors by analysing the following items:

This section presents the results of the qualitative analysis that followed the methodology explained in 2.1.2 of this document.

Throughout the analysis, companies are divided into two categories: established and non-established companies. Established companies are those that have already invested in Barcelona or Catalonia, whereas non-established companies are international companies that have not yet invested in Barcelona or Catalonia.

Why do international companies decide to invest abroad?

How do international companies decide where to invest?

What is international companies’ perception of Catalonia and Barcelona as business locations?

4.1Why do international companies decide to invest abroad?

The first element when analysing the perceptions of international companies regarding a specific territory is to understand

why these entities invest in foreign countries. Below are the main reasons that guide their decision to internationalise their activities.

As shown in Figure 28, companies mostly invest abroad to access new markets, since 65% of all respondents chose this option. The second and third

Fig

ure

28 -

R

easo

ns fo

r int

erna

tiona

l co

mpa

nies

to in

vest

abr

oad

21

21 More than one reason could be selected by survey respondents

Acces new markets

Innovate inprocesses or

products/services

Access to foreign products/services

to supply thelocal market

Cut costs in production

Acquire knowledge of foreign

companies

Global

Established

Non-established

65%

63% 66

%

24%

24%

21%

19%

15%

17%

15% 10

% 13%

9%

35%

19%


reason to invest abroad fall far behind access to new markets, but show two specific trends: investing abroad to innovate in processes or products/services and proximity to products or services demanded by their local markets.

From a comparative point of view, the importance of innovation for established companies stands out, while non-established ones equally value innovation and the existence of local products or services that can be exported.

A possible reason for established companies to give significantly greater weight to innovation could be that Catalonia and Barcelona are more attractive to innovative companies. This also matches with the fact that Barcelona is the

second leading position in the ranking of Design, Development & Testing (Figure 22) activities in terms of FDI Project attraction for the period or the fourth position in R&D project investment attraction as shown in the Figure 23.

22 See Methodological note 2 in Section 6.6Fi

gur

e 29

-

Influ

enci

ng fa

ctor

s w

hen

deci

ding

on

a lo

catio

n in

whi

ch to

inve

st (r

anki

ng b

y im

port

ance

)4.2How do international companies decide where to invest?

After understanding the reasons that drive the decision to internationalise business

activities, it is relevant to understand the factors that companies analyse when deciding on an investment location.22

Figure 29 shows the factors considered when making that decision, arranged by the ranking attributed glob-ally. This ranking is also compared with the ranking for established and non-established companies.

According to the above data, the most important factor for executives when deciding where to invest is the market: its size, level of openness and its growth potential.

Institutional factors and costs hold second and third positions respectively. In that sense, costs stand out as a fairly

FactorsGlobal ranking

ranking for established companies

ranking for non-established

companies

MarketPotential 1st 1st 1st

Institutionalfactors 2nd 2nd 3rd

Costs 3rd 6th 2nd

Macroeconomic factors 4th 3rd 5th

Geo-economiclocation 5th 4th 7th

Innovation factors 6th 5th 4th

Human Capital 7th 8th 6th

Infrastructures 8th 7th 9th

Professional networks 9th 10th 8th

Knowledge of the region 10th 11th 10th

Lifestyle 11th 9th 11th

Established companies value innovation in processes, products and services 16% more than non-established

The most important factor when deciding where to invest is the market potential of the region followed by institutional factors


important issue to respond-ents. This result shows that even though cutting costs is not the main reason to inter-nationalise a company (see Figure 28), it is one of the main factors when deciding where to invest. That is true for non-established companies, but companies investing in Catalonia and Barcelona do not consider

costs that important. In fact, costs are only the sixth most important factor for established companies, three positions below in the ranking for non-established ones. This could mean that established companies do not only not invest in the region because of its costs but because of other more value-added elements.

Besides the top three in the ranking, an additional factor seems very relevant for most companies interviewed: human capital. In fact, during the interviews, certain exec-utives pointed out the increasing relevance of talent availability as a key investment factor.

Comparing the three rankings, market potential remains the main factor, but institutional factors,

Factories have similar

performance anywhere in Europe, what really makes the difference is the talent that the region has to offer

CEO - Food & Beverages company

Before investing in

any country, I always meet with suppliers operating in the region to investigate about the market, culture, etc.

CEO - Transport & Logistics company

macro-economic factors, and geo-economic location appear to be much more important for established companies than for non-established ones. This could indicate that knowing Catalonia and Barcelona allows companies to be more aware of their privileged geo-economic position. This fact highlights the importance of the regional context for those already in the region and points towards the need to reinforce the geo-economic location and institutional support for businesses in the region to promote further investment.

Besides specific investment factors, respondents were asked about the influence that other firms’ behaviour could have on their decisions when choosing an investment destination. Overall, three out of four companies consider that their investment decisions are influenced by the performance and opinion of other companies. From the results of Figure 30, it seems clear that companies take into consideration the performance of similar firms in a specific region (41%), as well as the opinions of their business network (35%) prior to deciding on whether to invest in that territory.

Fig

ure

30 -

In

form

atio

n an

alys

ed b

y co

mpa

nies

bef

ore

inve

stin

g in

a s

peci

fic re

gion

Performance of similar firms in

the region

Opinion of the firm’s suppliers

that also operate in the region

Opinion of firmsthat also operate in the region and have a good relationship

with yours

No relevantinformation on theregion is analysed

41%

35%

21%

19%

Geo-economic location is a crucial factor for companies established in Catalonia and Barcelona


In the in-depth interviews, interviewees from established companies emphasised the importance of the performance of local branches of international companies and their positive perception of the territory in which they are located. This additional factor was highlighted as one that can potentially replace the relevance of other investment factors when a company decides to increase its presence in a specific territory.

Additionally, the expert panel stressed the impor-tance of the investors’ perception of a region. Since Catalonia and Barcelona are competing as advanced regions within Europe, there are no major differences in key factors such as costs or macro-economic or

institutional factors. Therefore, the decision to invest is greatly influenced by other factors such as the attractiveness of being an impor-tant hub or cluster for a sector, or to be perceived as an in-novative destination for certain economic sectors and value chain activities.

Moreover, perception can also be built through local ambassadors within international companies that

Investors come to

Barcelona because of its solid IT ecosystem and the perception of the city as where things happen

CEO - Technological company

4.3What is international companies’ perception of Catalonia and Barcelona as business locations?

Respondents of the survey were asked to grade Catalonia and Barcelona in terms of

attractiveness on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being “Very unattractive to invest”, and 5 being “Very attractive to invest”. Figure 31 shows the position of Catalonia and Barcelona in this scale.

The results of the survey indicate that investors, over-all, perceive Catalonia and Barcelona as a good place to invest. The region is rated globally at 3.7. The difference in per-ception between estab-lished and non-estab-lished companies is not significant but, on aver-age, established com-

can leverage decisions when choosing an investment loca-tion. Some of the interviewed executives affirmed that the presence of their companies in Catalonia and Barcelona was driven by their intense campaigning for the region.

Fig

ure

31 -

O

vera

ll ra

ting

of C

atal

onia

and

B

arce

lona

as

a pl

ace

to in

vest

by

esta

blis

hed

and

non-

esta

blis

hed

com

pani

es

1. Very unattractive to invest

3.64 - Non-established 3.85 - Established

3.70 - Global

3. Neutral 5. Very attractive to invest

Already established companies act as advisors for other businesses seeking to invest in their region

Individual executives can highly influence multinational companies’ investment decisions... Their preference for specific territories can play a decisive role

Catalonia and Barcelona is an attractive region to invest for companies, with a grading of 3.7 out of 5


panies grade the region better than non-established companies. This indicates the importance of fostering the international reputation and positioning of the

region to attract more investment.

In terms of the location of survey respondents, Asian and European companies have a better global perception of

Catalonia and Barcelona than American ones, as can be seen in Figure 32, although the difference between the grading is not significant.

The Asian companies’ good perception is especially relevant, since the Asian market is an important FDI contributor. The number of projects from Asian companies has been increasing steadily since 2010, representing 23% of all FDI Projects in 2016. Being so well perceived by these companies represents a great opportunity for Catalonia and Barcelona to keep up the strong FDI trends.

Besides the geographical dimension, it is also interesting to see how different types of companies perceive Catalonia and Barcelona. As can be seen in Figure 33, differences between companies based on the activities they internationalise are not huge, but Logistics and Manufacturing are those that have a better perception of the region. The results are aligned with the quantitative analysis, where Barcelona had a leading position in terms of FDI Projects received in the EU for Logistics (first in the EU ranking) and Manufacturing (second in the EU ranking) as shown in Figure 22.

It is interesting to see that the two activities with a major impact on CapEx and job creation, also Manufacturing and Logistics (Figure 21), are those that have a better perception of Catalonia and Barcelona. This means

Fig

ure

32 -

A

vera

ge ra

ting

of C

atal

onia

and

Bar

celo

na

by o

rigin

of t

he c

ompa

ny

3.653.70 3.73

Grading scale: 1.”Very unattractive to invest” - 5. “Very attractive to invest”

Asian companies, which are one of the most important world FDI contributors, have a better perception of the region Catalonia and

Barcelona are well positioned to attract FDI Projects with a positive impact in terms of job creation and long term investment

America

AsiaEurope


Quality of life, infrastructures, geo-economic location, quality of education system, and competitiveness of business partners are the best perceived factors of Catalonia and Barcelona

Fig

ure

34 -

P

erce

ptio

n of

the

inve

stm

ent f

acto

rs o

f Bar

celo

na/C

atal

onia

Fig

ure

33 -

P

erce

ptio

n of

Cat

alon

ia a

nd

Bar

celo

na d

epen

ding

on

the

activ

ity th

at th

e co

mpa

ny

inte

rnat

iona

lises 1. Very unattractive

to invest

3.73 - Logistics 3.91 - Manufacturing

3.85 Customer Contact Centres

Business Services - 3.47R&D&i - 3.63

Sales & Marketing - 3.65

3. Neutral 5. Very attractive to invest

that the region is well-positioned in terms of attracting projects with a positive impact.

Additionally, survey respondents were asked to grade different aspects of Catalonia and Barcelona as business locations on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being “Poor” and 5 being “Excellent”.

In this section we are going to analyse the five best perceived factors (quality of life, infrastructures, geo-economic location, quality of the education system, and the competitiveness of business partners), and the five least appreciated ones (taxation, energy costs,

rental costs, political stability, and public policies to support investment).

Quality of life 4.57 4.574.594.05 3.91 4.11

4.00 3.833.68 3.593.66 3.543.53 3.603.53 3.593.47 3.613.82 3.38

3.893.633.593.573.573.553.553.29 3.20 3.343.28 3.12 3.393.23 2.95 3.44

3.23 3.34 3.143.17 3.00 3.31

3.14 2.90 3.33

2.84 2.59 3.032.78 2.51 3.002.72 2.60 2.82

2.68 2.36 3.00

2.66 2.20 3.002.63 2.34 2.862.49 2.07 2.812.27 1.81 2.65

InfrastructureGeo-economic locationQuality of education systemCompetitiveness of business partners

Skilled workforce availability

Economic stability

Entrepreneurs network

Market potential

Investment in R&D&I

Existence of attractive clustersInnovation policies

Availability of relevant trainingLegal security

Knowledge transfer from academia

Labour costs

Ease of doing business

Space availabilityPublic policies to support investment

Political stability

Rental costs

Energy costsTaxation

Grading Scale 1. Poor - 5 Excelent

Global Established Non-established


4.3.1Which are the most positively perceived factors?

A.The best perceived factor for Catalonia and Barcelona is quality of life (4.57). In the in-depth interviews, the quality of life in Catalonia and Barcelona also emerged as one of the most attractive aspects of the region. Although quality of life itself is not one of the most relevant factors (Figure 29), it acts as a good attractor of international talent. Most of the business people interviewed said that finding people within their international companies that wanted to move to Barcelona was rather easy. This means that the region’s quality of life could actually be a key element to ease the processes of hiring and retaining talent from national and international companies, thus reducing the costs of recruiting. The strong positioning of Catalonia and Barcelona as good places to live makes them very attractive for global meetings between international companies (i.e. Mobile World Congress), which also helps in the positioning of the region.

B.The second best perceived factor of Catalonia and Barcelona is its infrastructure (4.05). The favourable perception of Catalan infrastructures was also confirmed with the in-depth interviews, as most business people interviewed signalled Barcelona’s airport as a first-class infrastructure. The airport stands out as very well-connected with Europe, with a great offer of daily flights to all the European capitals and other important cities within the region. In addition to being well-connected with Europe, the

C.The third best factor for Catalonia and Barcelona is its geo-economic location (3.89). The positive geo-economic location of Catalonia and Barcelona is a key investment attraction element. A positioning of the territory promoting its strategic geo-economic location that allows big nearby markets, not just European, but also Mediterranean, to be reached and served, can compensate the potential perception of foreign companies that the local market is rather small. Catalonia and Barcelona should enhance their positioning as the economic capital of Southern Europe, being able to present itself as not only a decision-making place for companies operating in the region, but also as a logistic hub to access other regions for Asian and American companies. Proximity to bigger markets can attract projects focused on local market sales activities but also projects on business activities and services based on efficiency and focused on serving the nearby countries.

It is very easy for us to ask

anyone within our global company to work here in Barcelona, positions here are filled rapidly with people from all over the world

CEO - Technological company

I know people working in

other European cities that have family living in Catalonia, and they come and go each weekend thanks to the airport’s good connections

CEO - Medical devices company

airport is well-connected to the city. Getting to the city centre in less than 30 minutes is something of value for business people. There are two elements that will increase the good perception of Catalan infrastructures: more intercontinental connections in Barcelona airport, and the Mediterranean Corridor. The good positioning of Catalan infrastructures acts on two levels. On the one hand, it improves the geo-economic positioning of the region, bringing it closer to other territories and facilitating cross-border trade. On the other hand, being well connected to Europe also facilitates the attraction of international workers who would be more inclined to live in Catalonia if they could easily return to their home countries.


D.The fourth best perceived factor in the region is the quality of its education system (3.63). The region stands out as a place of talent. This factor should be analysed together with skilled workforce availability (3.57), and availability of relevant training (3.23). Catalonia and Barcelona are capable of offering international companies the talent they seek and an ecosystem of education and training to help them develop this talent. Interviewed executives also appeared to be satisfied with Catalan talent, which is similar to that of other European countries and at a better cost. Of all the talent factors (education system, skilled workforce availability, and relevant training), the latter is the one that presents a more important difference between established and non-established companies. Companies already operating in Catalonia and Barcelona have a better perception of the offer of relevant education for their workers.

A.The least positively perceived factor for executives is taxation, with a lower rating for established companies (i.e. those that actually pay taxes in the territory). The more detailed analysis provided by the interviews shows that of all taxes those perceived as especially high are personal income taxes for executives. Additionally, Spanish law does not allow the compensation of executives via stock-options, which is perceived as a competitive disadvantage against other territories in terms of senior talent attraction. Offering a more attractive taxation system for senior talent also means being able to attract more strategic operations.

B.The second less positively graded factor of Catalonia and Barcelona is its energy costs (2.49). According to Eurostat, Spain is the European country (EU-28) with the fifth highest household electricity prices and the 10th for industrial consumers23. This is a relevant finding because energy costs do not generally arise in the public debate. Although non-established companies have a better perception of the energy costs in Catalonia and Barcelona, it is still a fairly low grading

E.The last highlighted factor is the competitiveness of business partners (3.59). International companies perceive Catalonia and Barcelona as a place where they can find providers and associates to help in their businesses. In the in-depth interviews, executives also signalled that the ecosystem of companies in

Catalonia and Barcelona offers them what they need and it shows that local companies are used to working with international ones.

We hire graduates

from Catalan universities and technical schools for their good skills, and productivity

CEO - Manufacturing company

We use legal and

other corporate services from local providers and they always meet our expectations

CEO - Retail company

4.3.2Which are Barcelona & Catalonia’s less positively perceived factors?

23 Eurostat Energy Price Statistics (2016) http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Energy_price_statistics

The competitiveness of local companies allows Catalonia and Barcelona to become a first-class hub for strategic operations


(2.86). Considering that this is a very specific factor, this poor perception by companies not investing in the region means that it is widely known that operating in the region means high energy prices. Regardless of this perception, Barcelona led the attraction of Manufacturing projects during the 2010 – 2016 period (Figure 22), which are, by nature, energy-intensive projects. In that sense, quantitative data seems to indicate that the perception of energy costs does not affect the attraction of projects.

C.The third less positively perceived element is rental costs (2.63). This not so strong perception by companies confirms the importance of the increase of rental costs, especially in Barcelona. Spain was heavily affected by the real estate crisis from 2008 up to 2014, with a stop in the demand for houses, office spaces and industrial premises. The reactivation of economic activity in Catalonia and Barcelona is producing a rapid increase in the demand for real estate, which is still not met by the new offer of space. Actually, space availability also appears to be one of the least positive elements of Catalonia and Barcelona (2.72) especially for established companies (2.6). The gradual increase in office space availa-bility should help reduce prices and thus the perception by international companies.

E.The last factor to be analysed was public policies to support investment (2.68). As in the case of political stability, established companies have a worse perception than non-established ones, which have a “neutral” view of the public policies to support investment. The in-depth interviews shine some light on the survey results. Interviewed companies did not have a bad perception of the proactive policies to attract investment. In fact the Catalonia Trade and Investment Agency and the City Promotion department at Barcelona City Council were awarded in the fDi Strategy Awards 2016 (fDi Intelligence – Financial Times Group). The City Promotion department was awarded IPA (Investment Promotion Agency) of the Year, and Catalonia Trade and Investment was acknowledged for its support to R&D for companies. What businesspeople understood as policies to support investment was the lack of flexibility of bureaucracy when trying to establish their companies in the region. This lack of flexibility becomes a comparative disadvantage when compared with what happens in other European regions, where laws and regulations are more easily adapted to attract specific projects.

D.Political stability is the fourth less positively perceived factor of Catalonia and Barcelona, with a grading of 2.66. In this case, the difference between established and non-established companies is especial-ly important. In fact, the perception by

There is a tendency

in global companies to follow nearshoring strategies and Catalonia and Barcelona are certainly well positioned to attract these kind of services

CEO - Financial Services

non-established companies is 3.0, which means a neutral perception of the political stability of the region.

4.4Perception of Potential Investors

Non-established companies were asked if they were considering increasing their international operations. Of all non-established companies, 84% indicated that they were considering increasing their investments abroad. Of these, half of them were considering doing so in Southern Europe. For these companies the global perception of Catalonia and Barcelona is higher than the average for non-established companies, rating it at 3.9. Additionally, 51% of all companies that are considering investing in Southern Europe have considered investing in Catalonia or Barcelona. Their average rating of the region is 4 points out of 5.


Below is the perception of investment factors in Catalonia and Barcelona by companies considering investing in the region. Figure 35 enables the understanding of why these companies are considering investing in Catalonia and Barcelona.

In general, these companies have a better perception of Catalonia and Barcelona than the overall perception

of non-established companies. The overall perception of the investment factors

in Catalonia and Barcelona is similar to that of companies that are considering investing in the region. These investment factors are quality of life, infrastructures, investment in R&D&i, economic

stability, competitiveness of business partners and geo-economic location, all rated 4 out of 5 or higher.

The case of R&D&i is especially relevant for companies considering investing in Catalonia and Barcelona since they grade the factor 4.1, 0.73 points higher compared to global perception. Similarly, the R&D&i factor jumps from 10th to third position in the ranking when comparing the overall perception with that of companies considering investing in the region. This finding, along with the fact that a greater number of established companies invest abroad to innovate in products and processes (Figure 28) implies that Catalonia and Barcelona are attractive regions for highly innovative companies.

Fig

ure

35 -

P

erce

ptio

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Cat

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ia a

nd B

arce

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’s in

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for t

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co

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con

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Cat

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Quality of life 4,74,34,14,14,04,03,93,93,83,73,63,6

3,43,3

3,2

3,13,02,92,9

2,82,72,7

InfrastructureInvestment in R&D&i

Economic stability

Competitiveness of business partners

Geo economic location

Market potential

Skilled workforce availability

Entrepreneurs network

Knowledge transfer from academia

Existence of attractive clustersQuality of education system

Labour costsAvailability of relevant training

Ease of doing business

Political stabilityPublic policies to support investmentEnergy costs

Legal security

Space availability

Taxation

Rental costs

Grading Scale 1. “Poor” - 5 “Excelent”

Companies considering to invest in Catalonia/Barcelona

Half of the companies that are considering investing in Southern Europe are considering doing so in Catalonia and Barcelona

Companies considering investing in Catalonia and Barcelona percieve quality of life, infrastructures, investment in r&D&I, economic stability, competitiveness of business partners and geo-economic stability, competitiveness of business partners and geo-economic location the best factors of the region


4.5Likeliness to Invest

In order to showcase the competitive advantages of the region, non-established companies were asked to indicate how likely they would be to invest in a region with the following characteristics:

• Leading scientific facilities• Innovative ecosystem• A significant start-up presence• Local talent availability• International talent attraction• Head to business mind-set• Great quality of life

The response from non-established companies was very positive, 77.78% of the respondents said their companies would be likely or extremely likely to invest in such a region. Only 4.17% of non-established companies said it was very unlikely they would invest in that region.

An interesting finding can be drawn when contrasting the degree of likeliness of a company to invest in a region with the described characteristics and the global perception they have of Catalonia and Barcelona. Non-established companies who would be likely or extremely likely to invest in the ideal region described above grade Catalonia and Barcelona as

attractive regions in which to invest. On the other hand, non-established companies who show a lower degree of likeliness to invest in the ideal region have a neutral opinion of the attractiveness to invest in Catalonia and Barcelona. Therefore, non-established companies associate these characteristics of the ideal region with that of Catalonia and Barcelona.

Fig

ure

36 -

Li

kelin

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to in

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in a

n id

eal r

egio

n (1

) by

non-

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com

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th

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l rat

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giv

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C

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/Bar

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s pl

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to in

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Catalonia and Barcelona are perceived by non-established companies as regions with leading scientific facilities, an innovative ecosystem, an important prescence of start-ups, local talent availability and international talent attraction capacity, head-to-business mindset and a great quality of life

Extremely likely 27,78%

Likely 50.00%

Neutral 18.05%

Very unlikely 4.17%

4.00

3.61

3.00

3.00

Degree of likelinessGrading scale: 1- Very unattractive to invest,

5 - very attractive to invest

Non-established companies ‘likeliness to invest in “an ideal region“

Global ranking of Catalonia and Barcelonafor each group of non-established companies

% of respondents

(1) The ideal region was described by the following characteristics: Leading scientific facilities, an innovative ecosystem, an important presence of start-ups, local talent availability and international talent attraction capacity, head to business mindset and a great quality of life.

Foreign Direct Investment in Catalonia and Barcelona Conclusions45

5. Conclusions

In this section, the main key findings in conjunction with the conclusions resulting from the conducted research are described.

Catalonia and Barcelona, leading European regions in attracting foreign direct investment.

Catalonia and Barcelona are top-class regions in which to invest. Proof of that is that Catalonia’s productive FDI inflows hit a record high for two consecutive years, with €4,936 million in 2015, and €5,052 million in 2016. These results are in line with how foreign companies perceive Catalonia and Barcelona as attractive regions in which to invest, rating them 3.7 out of 5 on the scale of attractiveness.

Catalonia was the first destination for FDI Projects in Spain, accounting for 35% of all projects attracted between 2010 and 2016. These projects helped to reduce unemployment by creating over 50,000 jobs and boosted Catalonia’s economy by generating $20 billion of capital investment.

After London and Paris, with an investment market share of 8.6% and 4.2% respectively, Barcelona holds a leading position in Europe in terms of attraction of FDI Projects alongside Dusseldorf and Dublin during the analysed period (2010-2016). Barcelona is the fifth region, with a 2.2% market investment share after Dusseldorf (2.4%), and Dublin (2.3%).

Catalonia and Barcelona a strategic industrial pole in the process of reindustrialisation of advanced economies.

Catalonia’s manufacturing sectors had a leading position in FDI Projects attracted in the region, as the main ones in traditional sectors such as Chemicals, Textiles or Business Machines and Equipment. As a result, Catalonia is consolidating its positioning as a strategic destination to relocate manufacturing activities in a context of reindustrialisation of the European economy. Catalonia has become a pole of attraction for Manufacturing companies, with Barcelona ranking as the European region with the second most FDI Projects received for these activities between 2010 and 2016.

Highly innovative sectors find in Catalonia and Barcelona a very competitive location for their investments.

Catalonia and Barcelona are more attractive to innovative companies, in this sense established companies give significantly greater weight to innovation. Barcelona had a leading position in

Catalonia and Barcelona have consolidated its attractiveness to the largest economies in the world and to emerging countries in foreign investments.

The main contributors to FDI Projects in Catalonia are among the largest economies in the world. The top five consists of three European countries (Germany, France and the UK) and two of the world’s most

1.

3.

4.2.

powerful economies (the US and Japan). Of all the projects received in Catalonia, 19.8% were from the United States, 15.9% from Germany, 13.3% from France, 9.1% from the UK, and 7.3% from Japan. Asian companies are the fastest-growing contributors to the world’s FDI. Catalonia was the main Spanish destination (with a 40% share) for FDI Projects coming from China, Japan and India.

Asian companies are those with a better perception of the region, with a grading of 3.73 points, followed by European and American companies with 3.70 and 3.65 points respectively.


FDI attraction in the EU for the Life Science and Transportation sectors. These were also the sectors with the highest impact in terms of job creation and capital investment generation per project. The Life Sciences sector, which is very strategic for the region, invests mainly in Manufacturing activities. Additionally, international companies from this sector find Barcelona attractive for Headquarters activities, increasing the added value of investments destined for the Life Sciences sector.The Software & IT Services sector attracted the most FDI Projects in Catalonia (16% of total projects). This sector is highly reliant on skilled workers who can adapt to constant changes.

Catalonia and Barcelona’s talent and education ecosystem is a key element to reinforce the positioning of the region in the global competition for talent.

Catalonia and Barcelona are capable of providing international companies with the talent they seek by offering education and training programmes built around their needs. The human capital offered by the region is perceived very highly by international companies. To be more specific, the education system, skilled workforce availability and the existence of relevant training programmes for workers are among the best perceived factors by international companies. Additionally, the great quality of life in the region helps companies attract international talent.

The attractiveness of Catalonia and Barcelona in terms of talent and education is very important for investment attraction, since talent has become the most important asset for companies in the context of a digital and knowledge economy.

Catalonia and Barcelona are key regional players for the Southern European and Mediterranean market.

The good perception of Catalonia and Barcelona’s infrastructures is linked to the high perception that international companies have of their geo-economic

Innovation, business performance and networking are key elements for attracting foreign investment in advanced economies.

Since Catalonia and Barcelona are competing as advanced regions within Europe, there are no major differences in key factors such as costs or macro-economic or institutional factors. Therefore, the decision to invest is greatly influenced by other factors such as the attractiveness of being an important hub or cluster for a sector, or to be perceived as an innovative destination for certain economic sectors and value chain activities.

International companies perceive there is a large and competitive network of suppliers and provid-ers in Barcelona, making the city attractive for doing business and creating synergies. The competitiveness of local companies is allowing Catalonia and Barcelona to become a first-class hub for strategic operations.

5.

6.

7.

location. Catalonia and Barcelona are perceived as key regional players in the Southern European and Mediterranean markets.

Barcelona is, in fact, the first EU region in terms of attraction of Transportation and Logistics FDI Projects. This reinforces the idea that Catalonia and Barcelona are very well-connected with Europe and other world regions through their first-class infrastructures, the second best perceived factor in the region. FDI Projects destined to the Transportation sector are among those with the highest impact in terms of job creation and long-term investment. These projects created 9,551 jobs and generated a CapEx of $4,691M between 2010 and 2016.

The high quality of the infrastructures network, in conjunction with the geoeconomic location of Catalonia and Barcelona can be used by established companies to reach out to potential European and Mediterranean markets as well as to establish corporate services near their target markets.

Increasing airline routes at Barcelona’s airport and connecting the Mediterranean Corridor with a freight network will contribute to continually improve the good perception of the region’s infrastructures.


The perception of a region by companies is multi-factorial and should be analysed and worked upon taking this into consideration. In this regard, it is important to analyse investment opportunities taking into account hard factors as well as soft factors, with the latter determined by the established companies’ own experiences.

Established companies are, themselves, an attraction factor for foreign direct investment. Positive performance increases their internal strategic positioning within their company group and against other local branches. This, together with a positive perception of the region where the branch is located, can significantly help to attract further investments from their parent companies.

Strategic sectors find in Catalonia and Barcelona top-class locations for their decision-making centres.

Life Sciences, Business Services and Textile sectors are investing in the region for Headquarters activities. Promoting investment for desicion-making centres of international companies helps position the region as an attractive location for other strategic sectors such as IT or Transportation.

As a result of receiving foreign investment for business headquarters, more and better investment opportunities arise around companies’ headquarters. On the other hand, Headquarters investments tend to be more stable than investments in other activities which are more reliant on market fluctuations.

Catalonia and Barcelona are a hotspot for potential investment opportunities.

Non-established companies perceive Catalonia and Barcelona as regions with leading scientific facilities, an innovative ecosystem, and important presence of start-ups, local talent availability and international talent attraction capacity, head-to-business mind-set and a great quality of life. In fact, half of the companies considering investing in Southern Europe are considering doing so in Catalonia and Barcelona.

Innovation and start-up ecosystems as a way to attract potential investment.

International companies have a good perception of R&D&i investment in the region, since they rate the factor 4.1 out of 5. This finding, along with the fact that a greater number of established companies are investing in Catalonia and Barcelona to innovate in

8. 10.

9.

products and processes, implies that Catalonia and Barcelona are attractive regions for highly innovative companies.

Barcelona is currently developing a strong start-up ecosystem. In a global context of Digital Transformation, large companies refer to start-ups as key players to foster their own transformation. As a consequence, the entrepreneur network of a region becomes an incentive for FDI attraction.

Catalonia and Barcelona, which are among the most innovative regions in Europe, are set to become innovation hubs. This favourable environment promotes the interest of international companies that are planning to invest abroad.

Foreign Direct Investment in Catalonia and Barcelona Appendix48

6. Appendix

6.1Table of Figures

Figure 1 - Methodology for the qualitative analysis Figure 2 - Global FDI Flows (in billion dollars) and growth (in %), 2010-2015 Figure 3 - Global FDI Flows as % of Global GDP, 2010-2015 Figure 4 - Distribution of Global FDI Flows from greenfield and mergers & acquisitions investments (in %) and their volume (in billion dollars), 2010-2015 Figure 5 - EU-28 and Global FDI Flows in billion dollars (up) and growth in % (down), 2010-2015Figure 6 - EU-28 and world FDI Flows’ growth in %, 2010-2015 Figure 7 - EU-28 FDI Flows as % of global FDI Flows, 2010-2015 Figure 8 - Top 10 FDI destinations in the EU (in billion dollars), 2010-2015 Figure 9 - Productive FDI Flows in Catalonia (in million euros), 2010-2016 Figure 10 - Distribution of FDI (ETVE – NO ETVE) in Catalonia and Spain (in %) and their volume (in million euros), 2010-2016Figure 11 - Catalonia’s productive FDI as % of the total in Spain, 2010-2016 Figure 12 - FDI Flows in Catalonia by group of sectors (in million euros), 2010-2016 Figure 13 - Foreign companies established in Catalonia, 2016 Figure 14 - Number of FDI Projects in Spain by Autonomous Community, 2010-2016 Figure 15 - Share of FDI Projects in Catalonia by country of origin, 2010-2016 Figure 16 - Ranking of FDI Projects by economic sector with destination in Catalonia, with jobs created and CapEx ($M), 2010-2016Figure 17 - Top 5 Administrative Regions in the EU-28 by number of FDI Projects, 2010-2016Figure 18 - Barcelona’s top 5 sectors in terms of FDI Projects, and their relative position in the EU, 2010-2016Figure 19 - 5 other sectors where Barcelona has a leading position in the EU in terms of FDI Projects,

2010-2016Figure 20 - Impact of FDI by sector in Barcelona, 2010-2016Figure 21 - Ranking of FDI Projects by business activity in Catalonia with jobs created and CapEx ($M), 2010-2016Figure 22 - Top 5 business activities in terms of FDI Projects in Barcelona and their relative position

in the EU, 2010-2016Figure 23 - Five other business activities where Barcelona has a leading position in the EU in terms of

FDI Projects, 2010-2016 Figure 24 - Impact of FDI by activity in Barcelona, 2010-2016 Figure 25 - Top 5 economic sectors by country of origin of FDI Projects (Number of FDI Projects per country and percentage per economic sector), 2010-2016 Figure 26 - Top 5 activities by country of origin of FDI Projects (Number of FDI Projects per country

and percentage per activity), 2010-2016 Figure 27 - Ranking of business activities in Barcelona by economic sector (Number of FDI Projects), 2010-2016 Figure 28 - Reasons for international companies to invest abroadFigure 29 - Influencing factors when deciding on a location in which to invest (ranking by importance)

91112

121313141415

161617181920

2122

23

2425

26

27

2828

30

31

323435


Figure 30 - Information analysed by companies before investing in a specific region Figure 31 - Overall rating of Catalonia and Barcelona as a place to invest by established and

non-established companies Figure 32 - Average rating of Catalonia and Barcelona by origin of the company Figure 33 - Perception of Catalonia and Barcelona depending on the activity that the company inter-

nationalisesFigure 34 - Perception of the investment factors of Barcelona/Catalonia Figure 35 - Perception of Catalonia and Barcelona’s investment factors for those companies consid-

ering investing in Catalonia and Barcelona Figure 36 - Likeliness to invest in an ideal region (1) by non-established companies compared with

the overall rating that those companies give to Catalonia/Barcelona as places to investFigure 37 - Equivalence table of factors and variables of attractionFigure 38 - Profile of the respondents to the survey of executives from foreign companiesFigure 39 - Number of FDI Projects by sector and their relative position in Catalonia, 2003-2016 Figure 40 - Number of FDI Projects by business activity and their relative position in Catalonia, 2003-2016

36

3738

3939

43

44535960

60


6.2Acknowledgments

The research team would like to thank the members of the expert panel who provided their input throughout the study.

Members of the expert panel:

• Marcel Prunera (Partner at Crea Inversión)• xavier Mendoza (Associate Professor at ESADE Business School)• Amadeo Jensana (Economics and Business director at Casa Asia)• Jordi Casas (Partner at Osborne Clarke)• Juanjo Berbel (Director of Spain and Portugal at MOA BPI Group)• Adriana del Solar (Deputy Manager at Fira Barcelona) • Mateu Hernandez (CEO at Barcelona Global)• Santiago Garcia-Milà (Deputy Executive Director at Port of Barcelona)• Oriol Barrachina (Spanish CEO at Cushman Wakefield)• Miquel Martí (CEO at Barcelona Tech City)• Sergi Biosca (Public Sector Partner at Everis)

The research team would also like to thank the interviewed executives who dedicated their time to provide their insights on Catalonia and Barcelona, and all executives who anonymously responded to the survey.

The list of the people who took part in the in-depth interviews is as follows:24

• Stéphane Laurent, Partner at ETIAM• roger Vilà, Regional Director at NTT Europe• ralf Wein, Spain CEO at H&M• Carolina Arriadaga, Managing Director at Cities & Collaboration• Fran Pettruzzeli, CEO at WhaleSlide

• Steven Brandwayn, CEO at Packen• Gillaume Joinau-Dumail, Director of Operational Performance at B2s• Dieter rogiers, CEO at Sword Group• Josep Macià,

Accounting, Business Planning & Purchasing Gen-eral Manager at Denso

• Marc Gimeno, Vice President at Medtronic• Frédéric Parrote, Group Tax Manager at Greenyard Foods• Joan Martin,

Executive Vice President & Head of EMEA at Accelerate Diagnostics

• Victoriano Martin, Senior Director for Iberia, Mediterranean Leader & Barcelona Office Director at Oracle• ramon Montserrat, Head of Engineering and Packaging at Nestle• Miguel Santos, Research Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School

The interviews, survey and sessions with the expert panel were conducted between February and April 2017. The perceptions and opinions expressed do not take into account the political situation in Catalonia after 1st October 2017.

Last but not least, the research team would like to thank the City Promotion Department at Barcelona City Council and Catalonia Trade & Investment (ACCIÓ) – Government of Catalonia for their support.

The Everis research team is as follows

• Albert Mayol (Public Sector Director)• Anna Forment (Public Sector Manager)• xavier Just (Senior Consultant) • Oriol Vidal-Barraquer (Consultant) • Alejandro Mitjana (Consultant)

24 In-depth interviews were also performed with three executi-ves who requested not to be publicly mentioned in this study


6.3Sources

The following sources were used25 to put together the quantitative analysis:

• The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is a database that provides information about FDI Flows and FDI Stocks worldwide as well as at national level. It also provides information about greenfield and M&A investments.

• DataInvex-Mineco is a database that provides information about FDI Flows and FDI Stocks in Spain and its Autonomous Communities26. This database is managed and supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness.

• Catalonia Trade & Investment (ACCIÓ) data was used to estimate the number of foreign companies established in Catalonia. Additionally, ACCIÓ provided data about the FDI Flows in Catalonia by sector based on the DataInvex-Mineco database.

• The fDi Markets database (Financial Times) provides broad information about FDI Projects. Projects can be filtered by country, state, administrative region and city.

6.4references

The following references were used for this study:

• UNCTAD (2016) World Investment Report 2016; Geneva: United Nations

• fDi Magazine (2016) fDi European Cities and Re-gions of the Future 2016/17 Rankings, London: The Financial Times

• UNCTAD (2014) World Investment Prospects Survey 2014-2106, New York and Geneva: United Nations

• IESE (2014) Foreign Investment in the Barcelona Area, IESE Business School

6.5Glossary of terms

Autonomous Community• Autonomous Communities are the first level of

political and administrative division of Spain.

Barcelona• Barcelona refers to the province of Barcelona,

which includes the following counties: Alt Penedès, Anoia, Bages, Baix Llobregat, Barcelonès, Garraf, Maresme, Vallès Occidental and Vallès Oriental. It also partially includes the following counties: Berguedà, Osona and La Selva.

CapEx• CapEx or capital expenditure makes reference to

long-term expenditures of a non-recurring nature, resulting in the acquisition of permanent assets.

FDI• Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is a type of

investment in the form of a controlling ownership in one country by a direct investor based in another country. The direct investor needs to have a significant influence over the company (10% or more of voting stock). This level of influence may vary depending on the size of the company (i.e. less than 10% voting stock).

• There are two ways in which FDI can take place: by starting a new activity or expanding an already existing one and through mergers or acquisitions of existing companies.

• ESADE (2012) Foreign Direct Investment in Barcelona: A city focused on growth, ESADE Business School

• OECD (2008) Benchmark Definition of Foreign Direct Investment, Fourth Edition

• EUROSTAT (2016) Energy Price Statistics

25 All sources were consulted throughout the months of March and April 2017

26 Autonomous Community is the first level and administrative division in Spain


ETVE• Foreign-Securities Holding Companies, known

as “Entidades de tenencia de valores extranjeros” (ETVEs) in Spain, are entities that have a special tax treatment for dividends and capital gains transferred to the ETVEs from its shareholding in non-resident companies.

GDP• Gross Domestic Product (GDP) measures the mar-

ket value of all final goods and services produced in an economy within a given period of time.

Greenfield investments• Greenfield investments are a type of investment

in which a parent company begins a new venture in another country. They involve constructing new facilities as well as creating new jobs.

Mergers & Acquisitions• The term “merger” refers to the combination of two

or more companies to form one, while “acquisition” refers to one company taken over by the other.

6.6Methodological notes

1. In this study, $1 billion refers to the American and British scale which is $1,000,000,000. In this sense, commas (,) have been used to separate groups of thousands whereas full stops (.) have been used for decimal separators.

2. Survey respondents were asked to choose from a list of factors that they consider relevant when analysing a potential location for their investments. The chosen factors were then ranked by order of importance, thus making it possible to grade each factor, with 100 being the maximum grade possible. Considering the order given by each respondent, the first factor was assigned a grade of 100, the second 100/2, the third 100/3, and so on. The overall grade for each factor is the average of the grades assigned by each individual respondent. Each factor was accompanied by a detailed explanation in brackets:

• Macroeconomic factors (exchange rate, growth, expectations, credit risk, etc.)

• Administration/Institutional factors (political stability, ease of doing business)

• Market factors (market size, openness of the market, market growth potential, etc.)

• Costs (labour costs, transportation costs, etc.)• Infrastructure and real estate factors (transportation

and logistics, ICT, availability of space, etc.)• Human capital (education, research, skilled workers,

etc.)• Professional network factors (business ecosystems,

clusters, etc.)• Geographical factors (geo-economic location, ease

of travelling to the home country, geopolitical risk, etc.)

• Innovation factors (R&D&i, access to local advanced knowledge, etc.)

• Attractive lifestyle factors (quality, image of the city/region, etc.)

• Knowledge of the region (market, culture, etc.)• Other:______

3. In the survey, each factor was accompanied by a brief explanation in brackets. For market factors, the description was: market size, openness of the market, market growth potential, etc. On the other hand, for geographical factors the description was: geo-economic location, ease of travelling to home country, geopolitical risk, etc. This ambiguity between the two aspects might have produced a certain confusion by respondents. In this way, when rating the geo-economic location of Catalonia and Barcelona, companies could also be rating market factors, not of the internal market, but of its capacity to access surrounding markets (e.g. South Europe). On the other hand, when rating the market factors respondents were probably considering only the local market (e.g. Catalonia and Barcelona). This may explain why the rating of the geo-economic location of Catalonia and Barcelona is 3.83, one of the best-rated factors. 4. The analysis was done only in those categories where more than 12 answers were obtained. We have considered categories with fewer than 12 answers irrelevant.


6.7Equivalences of Factors and Elements of Attraction

Several answers to questions from the survey where aggregated in order to analyse how companies perceive the most relevant factors. The first question was the one presented in Figure 29, which offered respondents the possibility to choose and rank 12 factors of investment, that is, elements that they analyse to decide where to invest. This question was combined with the answers to the 24 questions where different elements of Catalonia and Barcelona were ranked from 1 to 5.The Figure 37 below shows how each element of attractiveness was assigned to the relevant factors, and how the aggregated grading was calculated:

Fig

ure

37 -

Eq

uiva

lenc

e ta

ble

of fa

ctor

s an

d va

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es o

f attr

actio

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Attractive lifestyle Quality of life

Infrastructures Infrastructures

Professional network factors Competitiveness of Business partnersExistence of attractive clusters

Innovation factors Entrepreneur networkPolicies to foster innovationInvestment in r&D&iKnowledge transfer from academia to businesses

Market factors Market potential

Administration/Institutional factors Ease of doing businessLegal securityPublic policies to support investment and business activitiesTaxationPolitical stability

Costs Labour costsEnergy costsrental costsGeneral operating costs

Geographical factors Geo-economic location

Human Capital Quality of education system (schools and universities)Skilled workforce availabilityAvailability of relevant training and education programmes

Macroeconomic factors Economic stability

Factor Variable


6.8Survey data

6.8.1Survey

The survey answered by decision makers from international companies was done via an online survey platform (Surveygizmo) that allowed the logic of questions to be programmed depending on the answers provided.

This section presents the survey questions:

1.Does your company have any international operations?

YesNo

2. (If answered “No” in “Does your company have any international operations?”) Is your company planning to invest abroad in the future?

YesNo

3. (If answered “Yes” in “Does your company have any international operations?”) Does your firm have any investments in Spain?

YesNo

4. (If answered “Yes” in “Does your firm have any investments in Spain?”) Does your firm have any investments in Barcelona or Catalonia?

YesNo

5. (If answered “Yes” in “Does your firm have any investments in Barcelona or Catalonia?”) Please choose which of the following activities you company is carrying out in Barcelona/Catalonia

Business servicesContact centresDesignHeadquartersLogisticsProductionR&D&iRetail tradeSales and marketingShared services (Back-office activities) Other

6. (If answered “No” in “Does your firm have any investments in Barcelona or Catalonia?”, “No” in “Does your company have any investments in Spain?” or “Yes” in “Is your company planning to invest abroad in the future?”) Are you established in Europe?

YesNo

7. (If answered “No” in “Does your firm have any investments in Barcelona or Catalonia?”, “No” in “Does your firm have any investments in Spain?” or “Yes” in “Is your company planning to invest abroad in the future?”) Have you ever been to Barcelona/Catalonia?

NoYes, as a touristYes, on a business tripYes, both as a tourist and on a business trip

8. Please select which of the following factors you consider to be relevant when choosing Business Location (choose at least three)

Macroeconomic factors (Exchange rate, growth, expectations, credit risk, etc.)Administration / Institutional factors (Political stability, ease of doing business)Market factors (market size, openness of the market, market growth potential, etc.)Costs (Labour costs, rental costs, etc.)Infrastructure and real state factors (Transportation and logistics, ICT, availability of space, etc.)


Human Capital (Education, research, skilled workers, etc.)Professional network factors (Business ecosystems, clusters, etc.)Geographical factors (Geo-economic location, ease of travelling to the home country, geopolitical risk, etc.)Innovation factors (R&D&i, access to local advanced knowledge, etc.)Attractive lifestyle factors (Quality, image of the city / region, etc.)Knowledge of the region (Market, culture, etc.)Other:______

9. Please rank the factors you have previously selected in terms of importance when choosing a Business Location

10. Additionally, when deciding where to invest, which of the following factors do you take into consideration?

Performance of similar firms in the regionOpinion of some of the firm’s suppliers that also operate in the regionOpinion of some other firms that also operate in the region and have good relationship with yoursNone of above

11. How would you rank the potential of the Catalan Market? (1 - Poor, 3 – Neutral, 5 - Excellent)

12. How would you rate Barcelona/Catalonia in terms of infrastructures? (1 - Poor, 3 – Neutral, 5 - Excellent)

13. How would you rate the following aspects of Barcelona/Catalonia related to professional (or business) network factors? (1 - Poor, 3 – Neutral, 5 - Excellent)

_ Competitiveness of Business Partners_ Entrepreneur network_ Existence of attractive clusters

14. How would you rate the following aspects of Barcelona/Catalonia related to professional (or business) innovation factors? (1 - Poor,

3 – Neutral, 5 - Excellent)

_ Investment in R&D&i_ Knowledge transfer from academia to business _ Policies to foster innovation

15. How would you rate the Quality of life (life-style) of Barcelona/Catalonia? (1 - Poor, 3 – Neutral, 5 - Excellent)

16. How would you rate the following aspects of Barcelona/Catalonia related to Administration / Institutional factors? (1 - Poor, 3 – Neutral, 5 - Excellent)

_ Ease of doing business_ Legal security_ Public policies to support investment and business activities_ Taxation_ Political stability

17. Do you think that political instability in Cat-alonia and Spain could affect your perception of Barcelona/Catalonia?

It doesn’t have any impact on my perception of Barcelona/CataloniaOnly if Catalonia were to leave the EU that would make me change my mind about Barcelona/CataloniaWe would have to analyse the situation as it goesIt is impossible that the process affects the at-tractiveness of the region in terms of investmentThe current political instability is already making the region unattractive to investmentOtherDon’t know/No opinion


18. How would you rate the following aspects of Barcelona/Catalonia related to Cost factors? (1 - Poor, 3 – Neutral, 5 - Excellent)

_ Labor costs _ Energy costs_ Rental costs_ Space availability

19. How would you rate the Geo-economic location of Barcelona/Catalonia? (1 - Poor, 3 – Neutral, 5 - Excellent)

20. How would you rate the following aspects of Barcelona/Catalonia related to Human Capital factors? (1 - Poor, 3 – Neutral, 5 - Excellent)

_ Quality of the education system (schools and universities)_ Skilled workforce availability_ Availability of relevant training and education programs

21. How would you rate the Economic stability of Barcelona/Catalonia (exchange rate, inflation, interest rate, etc.) (1 - Poor, 3 – Neutral, 5 - Excellent)

22. Overall, do you think Barcelona/Catalonia is an attractive investment location? (1 – Very unattractive, 3 – Neutral, 5 – Very attractive)

23. (If answered “No” in “Does your firm have any investments in Barcelona or Catalonia”, “No” in “Does your firm have any investments in Spain” or “Yes” in “Is your company planning to invest abroad in the future?”) Has your company ever consid-ered investing in Barcelona/Catalonia?

Yes No

24. (If answered “No” in “Does your firm have investments in Spain?”, “No” in “Does your firm have any investments in Barcelona or Catalonia?” or “Yes” in “Is your company planning to invest abroad in the future?”) Is your firm planning on increasing its investment abroad in the future?

Yes No

25. (If answered “Yes” in “Is your firm planning on increasing its investment abroad in the future?”) Is your firm planning or increasing its investment in Southern Europe in the future?

Yes No

26. (If answered “Yes” in “Is your firm planning on investing or increasing its investment in Southern Europe in the future?”) If so, where?

27. (If answered “Yes” in “Does your firm have any investments in Barcelona or Catalonia”) Is your company planning on increasing its investment in Barcelona/Catalonia in the future

Yes No

28. (If answered “Yes” in “Is your firm planning on increasing its investment abroad in the future?”) In which of the following activities is your firm planning to invest in the future?

_ Business Services_ Contact Centres_ Design_ Headquarters_ Logistics_ Production_ R&D&i_ Retail Trade_ Sales and Marketing_ Shared Services (Back-office)_ Other:___


29. (If answered “Yes” in “Is your company planning on increasing its investment in Barcelona/Catalonia in the future?”) In which of the following activities is your firm planning to invest in Barcelona/Catalonia in the future?

_ Business Services_ Contact Centres_ Design_ Headquarters_ Logistics_ Production_ R&D&i_ Retail Trade_ Sales and Marketing_ Shared Services (Back-office)_ Other:___

30. (If answered “Yes” or “No” in “Is your company planning to invest abroad in the future?”, “No” in “Does your firm have any investments in Spain?” or “No” in “Does your firm have any investments in Barcelona or Catalonia?”) How likely would your company be to invest in a region with the following characteristics: Leading scientific facilities, and innovative ecosystem, an important presence of start-ups, local talent availability and international talent attraction capacity, head to business mind-set and a great quality of life

Very unlikely Unlikely Neutral Likely Extremely likely

31. (If answered “Very unlikely” “Unlikely” “Neutral” in “How likely would your company be to invest in a region with the following characteristics: Leading scientific facilities, an innovative ecosystem, an important presence of start-ups, local talent availability and international talent attraction capacity, head to business mind-set and a great quality of life?”) Why?

32. (If answered “No” in “Does your firm have any investments in Spain?” or “No” in “Does your firm have any investments in Barcelona or Catalonia?”) Which of the following strategies has your firm used to invest abroad?

_ Entrepreneurship_ Vertical investment (part of a service or production process)_ Horizontal investment (same activities as at home)_ Conglomerate (Foreign takeover)

33. (If answered “No” in “Is your company planning on increasing its investment in Barcelona/Catalonia in the future?”) Why not?

Reinvesting in Barcelona/Catalonia is not aligned with the company’s strategyDue to some negative factors related to Barcelona/Catalonia, the firm is considering taking its investments elsewhereOther:___

34. (If answered “Due to some negative factors relat-ed to Barcelona/Catalonia, the firm is considering taking its investments elsewhere” in “Why not?”) What are these factors?

35. (If answered “No” in “Is your company planning to invest abroad in the future?”) What would you say are the main reasons for your firm to invest abroad?

_ Access to new markets_ Cut costs in production_ Innovative in processes or products/services_ Acquire knowledge of foreign companies that we can apply in our local market_ Sell products produced abroad to our market

36. Which of the following best describes the main sector of your organization?

Aerospace & DefenceAutomotive


BiotechnologyBusiness & Financial ServicesChemicalsConstruction & Manufacturing MaterialsElectronicsEngines & TurbinesFood, Tobacco & BeveragesHotels & TourismLeisure, Entertainment & MediaLife SciencesMachinery, Equipment & ToolsPaper, Printing & PackagingPlasticsReal EstateRetail & Consumer productsSoftware & ICTTextilesTransport & LogisticsUtilities, Energy & ExtractionOther:______

37. In which country is your firm’s Global HQ located?

38. How many people is your company currently employing globally?

Less than 10 peopleBetween 10 and 50 peopleBetween 51 and 250 peopleBetween 251 and 500 peopleBetween 501 and 1000 peopleBetween 1001 and 5000 peopleBetween 5001 and 10000 peopleMore than 10000 people

39. (If not answered “No” in “Is your firm planning to invest abroad in the future?”) Name the top 3 foreign cities in which your firm is currently investing

• City 1:• City 2:• City 3:

40. (If answered “Yes” in “Does your firm have any investments in Barcelona or Catalonia?”) For how long have you been operating in Barcelona/Catalonia

Less than a yearBetween 1 and 3 yearsBetween 3 and 6 yearsBetween 6 and 12 yearsBetween 12 and 24 yearsMore than 24 years

41. (If answered “No” in “Does your firm have any investments in Spain?” or “No” in “Does your firm have any investments in Barcelona or Catalonia?”) For how long has your firm had international operations?

Less than a yearBetween 1 and 3 yearsBetween 3 and 6 yearsBetween 6 and 12 yearsBetween 12 and 24 yearsMore than 24 years

42. (If answered “Yes” in “Does your firm have any investments in Barcelona or Catalonia?”) Were you operating in the Spanish market before investing in Barcelona/Catalonia?

Yes, we were already operating in the other Spanish regionsNo, Barcelona/Catalonia was our first location within SpainI do not know/No answer

43. (If answered “Yes” in “Does your firm have any investments in Barcelona or Catalonia?”) Are your Spanish HQ located in Barcelona?

YesNo


6.8.2Survey respondents

Figure 38 below provides information on the distribution and profile of the survey respondents.

6.9Annex: Additional data

In order to complete the information provided in the quantitative analysis, this Annex includes data on the destination of FDI Projects in Catalonia for the period 2003-2009, as compared to the 2010-2016 period analysed throughout the study. This Annex firstly provides data on FDI Projects by economic sector (as shown in section 3.3.2.1) and secondly by economic activities (in line with section 3.3.3.1).

The tables below include the total number of FDI Projects by sector/activity according to the 2010-2016 ranking (as shown in sections 3.3.2.1 and 3.3.3.1). Additionally, it shows the position of each sector/activity in the 2003-2009 ranking as well as the percentage variation between the two periods in terms of FDI Projects.

Fig

ure

38 -

P

rofil

e of

the

resp

onde

nts

to th

e su

rvey

of

exec

utiv

es fr

om fo

reig

n co

mpa

nies Europe 28 61%

America 6 13%

Asia and Oceania 12 26%

TOTAL 46 100%

Europe 48 47%

America 18 17%

Asia and Oceania 37 36%

TOTAL 103 100%

Origin of the surveyrespondents

Companies established in Catalonia

Companies not established in Catalonia

Number of survey respondents % of the total



6.9.1Sectors in Catalonia (2003-2009)

6.9.2Business activities in Catalonia (2003-2009)

Fig

ure

39 -

N

umbe

r of F

DI P

roje

cts

by s

ecto

r and

thei

r rel

ativ

e po

sitio

n in

Cat

alon

ia, 2

003-

2016


Number of FDI Projects by sector 2003-2009 (according to 2010-2016 ranking)

ranking 2010-2016

ranking 2003-2009

FDI Projectsvariation between the two periods

Business Services

Life Sciences

Transportation

Financial Services

Chemicals

Consumer Products

Textiles

Other

Total

Industrial Machinery, Equipment & Tools


1st1st65 83%

2nd2nd43 81%

3rd3rd42 5%

4th4th36 17%

5th7th25 64%

6th8th22 73%

7th6th25 48%

8th

9th

15th

22nd

13

9

138%

633%

--227 14%

--507 42%

Fig

ure

40 -

N

umbe

r of F

DI P

roje

cts

by b

usin

ess

activ

ity a

nd

thei

r rel

ativ

e po

sitio

n in

Cat

alon

ia, 2

003-

2016


Number of FDI Projects by business activity 2003-2009(according to 2010-2016 ranking)

ranking 2010-2016

ranking 2003-2009

FDI Projectsvariation between the two periods

Manufacturing

Business Services



Construction

Customer Contact Centre

Other

Total

Headquarters


1st2nd113 81%

2nd1st124 -3%

3rd4th55 60%

4th3rd56 46%

5th8th19 268%

6th5th48 27%

7th9th17 53%

8th7th19 -42%

--56 7%

--507 42%

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